Editorial appeared in "The Hindustan Times" on July 22, 1999


Five massacres in three weeks — that should be gory enough to tell the world how and where the real war is waged by Pakistan.

At last there is official acknowledgement from the US that Pakistan-aided terrorism in Kashmir has to stop if any process of negotiated settlement were possible at all. Monday night’s militant attacks in Poonch and Doda, resulting in 19 deaths, contain a grisly message to the world that the conflict in Kargil was neither the beginning nor the end of hostilities provoked by Pakistan.

Three of the five attacks were in Poonch from where Indian army and Rashtriya Rifles men were shifted to Kargil since Pakistan crossed the LoC and occupied large areas of Indian territory. Significantly, the terrorists and their Pakistani patrons were aware of this fact when they carried out their heinous mission of murder.

While innocent, unarmed villagers were the targets at Doda, the militants chose a BSF base for their earlier attack and on Monday their victims were personnel of the General Reserve Engineering Force in Poonch.

The Government’s spokesmen, including the Defence and Information Ministers, glibly said that these militant attacks were “expected”. It would sound hollow if victory is claimed on the basis of the Pakistani withdrawal in Kargil while innocent people remain soft targets of terrorists and intruders in rest of the areas of Kashmir.

For the first time in more than a decade the United States is taking a position which is unequivocally in favour of India. Mr Clinton’s telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Vajpayee indicates American appreciation of India’s position that any resumption of bilateral links would be possible only after the withdrawal of all intruders in Kargil and the cessation of cross-border terrorism.

The new US position is based on an “unwritten law” governing nuclear powers that they would desist from any violation of territory or a mutually accepted boundary line. In effect, the US recognises India and Pakistan as nuclear weapon States and is subjecting Pakistan to the rules of the nuclear power game.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s condemnation of the terrorist attacks — again for the first time — will increase international pressure on Pakistan to stop the proxy war against India.