PAKISTAN/INDIA: KASHMIRI SEPARATISTS CONTEST INDIAN CLAIMS THAT THEY HAVE RECAPTURED SEVERAL KEY POSITIONS NEAR THE MILITARTY LINE OF CONTROL DIVIDING KASHMIR

Record ID: 550307

  • Title: PAKISTAN/INDIA: KASHMIRI SEPARATISTS CONTEST INDIAN CLAIMS THAT THEY HAVE RECAPTURED SEVERAL KEY POSITIONS NEAR THE MILITARTY LINE OF CONTROL DIVIDING KASHMIR
  • Date: 2nd July 1999
  • Summary: NEW DELHI, INDIA, (JULY 3, 1999) (REUTERS) WS/MV OFFICIAL BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (2 SHOTS) MV REPORTERS SV (SOUNDBITE) (English) RAMINDER SINGH JASSAL OF INDIA'S EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY "There is no change in our assessment that the situation on the ground warrants continuing military action by us until the intruders are evicted." MV REPORTERS SV (SOUNDBITE) (English) COL
  • Embargoed: 17th July 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KARACHI AND ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN AND NEW DELHI, INDIA
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan India
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADQJ6MSG5QCQWNHW6NUURG54K3
  • Story Text: Kashmiri separatists say Indian troops have failed in their campaign to evict guerrillas from strategic heights near the military Line of Control dividing Kashmir.But India says its military action will not stop until the armed infiltration ceases.Meanwhile, an Indian officer whose grandmother remembers him wanting to be a soldier when he was a child has been buried with two comrades, bringing the Indian Army death toll in the conflict so far to 217.
    In Karachi, protesters on Friday (July 2) held a procession to express their solidarity with Mujahideen (Islamic freedom fighters) fighting Indian armed forces in Kargil region of Jammu and Kashmir state.They also shouted anti-India slogans.
    Meanwhile, the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami has contested India's claims that it has recaptured several key positions in Drass and Batalik sub-sectors.
    "All Indian claims that they have recaptured some positions are not true.Mujahideens are holding their positions and they are determined to hold on to their positions," Jamaat leader Alami Rashid Tarabi told reporters.
    Tarabi also criticised several western countries for asking Pakistan to withdraw its infiltrators from the Line Of Control.
    Meanwhile, on Friday (July 2) the bodies of 21 Indian soldiers killed in the Kargil region of Jammu and Kashmir state arrived at the army base in Delhi.
    Three officers -- Major P.Acharya, Captain Vijayant Thapar and Captain N Kenguruse -- were among those who died during the operation to recapture positions in Drass and Batalik sectors in the Kargil region early this week.
    The officers belonged to Indian Army Rajputana Rifles.The bodies of 12 army personnel from Garhwal Rifles were also received with full military honours.
    The grandmother of Captain Vijayant Thapar arrived in a wheelchair."He used to talk a lot about joining the army when he was a child," she said."He used to sketch soldiers, forts and guns."
    So far, 217 Indian personnel have been killed in the fighting, 406 injured and nine missing-in-action.
    Indian defence officials claim 446 Pakistani soldiers and infiltrators have been killed.
    The Indian government said on Saturday (July 3) the military action in the Kargil region would not stop till the armed infiltration ceased.
    "There is no change in our assessment that the situation on the ground warrants continuing military action by us until the intruders are evicted," Foreign Ministry spokesman Raminder Singh Jassal told a news briefing.
    Indian army spokesman Colonel Bikram Singh told the news briefing that ground troops in the Drass zone of northern Kashmir were only 1.5 km (just under a mile) from the Line of Control with Pakistan.
    He said the army had succeeded in capturing many positions but added infiltrators were being reinforced by Pakistani army personnel.
    "We have captured a lot of localities.He is being pushed back, but we also have indications that he is reinforcing certain localities.Therefore, to that extent, our estimate as of now is about 700," Singh said.
    Singh ruled out any time frame for the completion of the operations.
    "We are going to ensure that we try to clear this area as early as possible, but just in case the opposition does spill over, we will fight," Singh said.
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