By K SUBRAHMANYAM appeared in "The Times of India" on July 13, 1999

IT is now clear in the light of the meeting of the Indian and Pakistani directors general of military operations and Mr Sartaj Aziz's announcement on de-escalation and defusion of tension that Pakistan is keen on projecting its military defeat as the outcome of an agreed disengagement as per the Clinton-Nawaz Sharif accord. Pakistan is also justifying its compliance with the demand to vacate its aggression as a victory for its policy of internationalising the Kashmir issue. There is near certainty that the Pakistani leadership, with support from sections of the international media, will try to win the information war after losing the actual battles on the ground. Unfortunately, now that the elections have been announced in India our political parties may not resist the temptation of interpreting the Kargil developments to their parochial advantage and that, in turn, may in some cases prove to be self-fulfilling prophesies.

Therefore, it is absolutely essential that the Indian leadership should start implementing immediately a proactive strategy to forestall Pakistan's efforts in the information war. Full details of Pakistani casualties, the visuals of the bodies of Pakistani soldiers, a detailed account by professionals in the army and air force of the campaign which cleared the Pakistanis from Indian territory without Indian forces crossing the Line of Control should be projected on Indian and international television. Both Indian and international correspondents should be taken to the areas where the bodies of Pakistani soldiers are lying and they should be shown the extent of casualties Pakistan has suffered and proof that the force that was eliminated from Indian territory was one comprising Pakistani regulars.

Security Issues

India should take the initiative under the Lahore process to demand a detailed discussion on security issues. Kargil is a major breach of security for India and, therefore, the Indian side should ascertain from the Pakistani side whether the Pakistani state and the Army are in a position to ensure that there will be no similar threat to Indian security. If they are not, as appears to be Pakistan's own case, then India will have to raise the issue of the utility of engaging Pakistan in a dialogue on the Kashmir issue, confidence-building measures and security.

The area in which the conflict took place is one abutting Pakistani territory in which, according to the Pakistan Supreme Court, no human rights have been extended by Pakistan. There appears to be a linkage between the lack of human rights in that area and the emergence of such a large number of lawless elements posing as Mujahideen. The existence of several well-armed sectarian elements in Pakistan which shoot down people praying at mosques is a well-known fact. Therefore, if Pakistan's version is accepted that it has no control over the Mujahideen, then Pakistan's credentials for engaging India in a dialogue on the Kashmir issue will have to be questioned. This is all the more so when the population of the Northern areas are not treated as Pakistani citizens, according to the Pakistan Supreme Court.

The shipment of machinery and components for making missiles despatched from North Korea to Pakistan has been seized by the Indian authorities at Khandla Port. There are western reports about Saudi officials being taken to visit the most sensitive Pakistani missile and nuclear installations. Influential Pakistanis have urged that Pakistan should sell nuclear weapons and technology. It is well-known that Saudi Arabia has 60 Chinese CSS-2 missiles waiting for nuclear warheads.

Nuclear Warheads

Pakistan's association with the rogue state of North Korea, the possibility of a quid pro quo between the two countries, North Korean missiles to Pakistan in exchange for Pakistani nuclear warheads for North Korea are of concern to South Korea, Japan, the US and, of course, India. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has described Mr Nawaz Sharif as the political face of Islamic fundamentalism. The close nexus between Pakistani fundamentalists, the Afghan Taliban and Osama Ben Laden and his international terrorist activities are well-established facts and the Pakistani establishment revels in them. Therefore, Kargil should be considered a logical extension of the activities of the Islamic fundamentalists dominating Pakistan.

Today, Pakistan cannot have any claim on the Kashmir Valley. A state which has not extended basic human rights to the population of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir under its occupation for the last 50 years, according to the Pakistan Supreme Court, which has not accepted 200,000 of its Urdu-speaking citizens in Bangladesh for the last seven years and which discriminates against 20 million Mohajirs leading to their struggle in Pakistan cannot have any legitimate claim over the Kashmiris who are ethnically completely different. The government of India should prepare its case on Kashmir to be presented to the international community in the light of the current realities and expose the untenability of the Pakistani claim harping on UN resolutions which it sabotaged by not fulfilling the two prerequisite conditions for holding a plebiscite.

Crumbling State

There is increasing understanding in the western world that if Pakistan is allowed to get away with carrying out aggression with its own army and calling them Mujahideen they could as well introduce `Mujahideen' missiles and `Mujahideen' nuclear weapons elsewhere. The phenomenon of the crumbling of the Pakistani state and its coming under the domination of various extremist elements and a rogue army have led to the US and other western countries taking a realistic view on Kargil based on their own national security interests.

Our efforts should focus on the international security problems created by the crumbling state of Pakistan and the extremist elements there rather than worry about the international community reviving the Kashmir dispute in the manner in which it was viewed at the height of the Cold War, when Pakistan was double its present size and did not have the history it has evolved over the last three decades. Not launching on a vigorous international media campaign because of the memories of the Kashmir issue in the UN in the fifties and sixties and not attempting to develop areas of mutuality of interest on international terrorism, non-proliferation and fundamentalism with the rest of the international community constitute sheer escapism which amounts to waiting for Pakistan to strike again. Such a policy has exacted a high price from India, including Kargil. It is time now to act in a proactive manner.