20000224Aslam Beg predicts limited Indian attack along LoC

Recorder Report

LAHORE: Former Chief of Army Staff and Awami Qiadat Party (AQP) Chairman Gen Mirza Aslam Beg (Retd) on Wednesday warned the government of a limited aggression by India on the Line of Control (LoC) in March or April.

Addressing a press conference at his party office he said that Pakistan was passing through a critical juncture of its history.

He said that freedom movement in Kashmir had reached that extent where India was under tremendous mental pressure due to damage caused to her by the freedom fighters.

He said that it was a reflection of the same mental pressure that India was exerting on Pakistan by threats of war.

He said by deployment of Prithivi missiles India aimed at threatening Pakistan. He said that Prithvi could carry both conventional and atomic weapons. He said that Hatf-1, tested recently by Pakistan, lacked that kind of capability.

He said that as over half a million Indian troops were engaged in the occupied Kashmir, India could not take the risk of a direct war with Pakistan.

However, Aslam Beg feared that India, in order to threaten Pakistan, might launch a big offensive on the Line of Control, and it could happen any time between March and May. He said that hopefully Pakistan Army would have devised its strategy to counter the Indian plan.

Aslam Beg also expressed concern over the India-US collaboration, which has resulted in shape of a Joint Working Group in order to justify the aggression of India in the Held Valley. He said that their cooperation had reached that extent that Clinton would visit India for four days and Bangladesh for one day, but it was not clear whether or not he will come to Pakistan.

He said that Pakistan should also keep an eye on the Indian plan to develop its nuclear programme and keep standby at least 400 atom bombs. He disclosed that for this purpose, India had already entered into an agreement of 15 billion US dollars with Russia.

Beg said that keeping in view the state of affairs it was the decision of his party that Pakistan must not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), at the cost of its nuclear deterrence. Signing the CTBT would be suicidal for Pakistan, he warned.

Commenting on the internal situation of the country, he claimed that the military-led government would hold local bodies elections by the end of the current calendar year, which would pave way for district governments.

He stated that after this, the government would go for elections of the provincial and national assemblies by the end of next year. He claimed that as devolution of power was on top of his party's manifesto, it would take part in the local bodies elections.

The AQP chief said that the accountability was a continuous process and it must continue in future. He also said that it was his advise to the government to take the civilian people into confidence and also induct them into the cabinet as only they could tame what he called the 'unbridled' bureaucracy.

He said that if he was offered to join the government, he would do so only if the Musharraf regime announces a timeframe for restoration of democracy.