archive: ISI will step up activities after losing in Kargil, warns
ISI will step up activities after losing in Kargil, warns
The Times of India News Service
The Times of India
July 19, 1999
Title: ISI will step up activities after losing in Kargil, warns
Advani
Author: The Times of India News Service
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 19, 1999
Union home minister L.K. Advani has warned of in-creased activities by
the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan following the end of
the Kargil conflict, which, he said, is both a military and political
victory for India.
Addressing BJP workers here on Sunday evening, Mr Advani said the
Kargil intrusions took place only because Pakistan failed in its proxy
war against India.
He ridiculed the Congress for having asked various questions on the
Kargil issue and said proper replies would be given now that the
country has pushed back the last Pakistani intruder.
Mr Advani, who arrived earlier in the day, visited the Siddhivinayak
temple in central Mumbai. He was accompanied by information and
broadcasting minister Pramod Mahajan, state BJP president Suryabhan
Wahadane, city unit president Kirit Somaiya and other functionaries.
The temple trust handed over a cheque for Rs 51 lakh to Mr Advani for
the Prime Minister's Kargil fund. Later, at Shanmukhananda Hall,
where the Union minister addressed a party meeting, Mr Somaiya
presented cheques worth Rs 75 lakh raised by the Mumbai BJP for the
Kargil fund.
Welcoming Mr Advani, Mumbai BJP general secretary Raghunath Kulkarni
asked the workers to complete the first round of mass contact by
August 9, begin the second round by August 11 and complete the third
and final round by the election date.
He said each polling booth will be monitored by one worker, who must
mobilise 8-10 co-workers for this exercise. "Every household in
Mumbai must be contacted by BJP workers," he stressed.
Praising Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's leadership, Mr Advani
said that those claiming that India and Pakistan have lived
peace-fully for 28 years since 1971 are hiding facts. During 1990-99,
1,845 Indian military personnel were killed in the proxy war sponsored
by the former Pakistani president, General Zia-ul-Haq. In Punjab, the
army lost more than 1,500 men and officers in the proxy war between
1984 and 1994, Mr Advani said, adding that not a single Pakistani
soldier died during this period.
Indian army commanders used to lament that the proxy war was bleeding
their forces, he said. "Today, the army is the happiest since it has
been able to deal with Pakistan and show it its place," he observed
amid thunderous applause.
Mr Advani accused earlier Central regimes of neglecting national
security. When some Bangladeshis were deported from Mumbai, many
opposition parties created a furore in Parliament, but it was later
established that the Maharashtra government had not harassed any
innocent person, he claimed.
"I always wondered how pandemonium erupted every time the ISI was
mentioned. The same people are today blaming the ISI," Mr Advani
remarked.
He said that this time, Pakistan had planned to gain a foothold
between Leh and Srinagar, along the line of control, in anticipation
of a ceasefire as in 1948,1965 and 1971. "But Mr Vajpayee foiled
their plans and, for the first time, ordered the use of the air
force. Pakistan was not prepared for this," he said.
Talking about the BJP's rise, he said the smallest party in 1984 has
gained in strength with each successive election. The BJP and its
allies are looking forward to a decisive electoral victory under Mr
Vajpayee in the coming polls, he added.
Mr Mahajan, who had been reluctant to speak, attacked the opposition
in a fiery speech. In all previous wars, what the army had achieved
was lost by the political leadership; "This is the first time in 50
years that both have won," he maintained.
Whose war was India fighting when 3,000 soldiers were lost in Sri
Lanka, he asked in an oblique reference to Congress president Sonia
Gandhi, who has lamented the loss of 300 soldiers at Kargil. One
question by the opposition would lead to several others, which the
Congress would be hard put to reply, he said.
Back
Top
|
