India Strafes Kashmir Rebels, Warns Pakistan

Updated 9:36 AM ET May 26, 1999

http://news.excite.com/news/r/990526/09/news-kashmir

(Reuters) By Chaitanya Kalbag

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India unleashed two waves of air strikes Wednesday to flush out guerrillas dug in on its side of a Kashmir cease-fire line, sharply raising temperatures on the nuclear-armed subcontinent.

The use of air power was India's first in peacetime in Kashmir, and New Delhi drew a tough line by warning Pakistan's army and air force not to interfere.

"Any escalation of this conflict will be entirely the responsibility of Pakistan," an Indian statement said.

New Delhi denied a Pakistan Army charge that some bombs from its first air strike at dawn had landed on Pakistan's side of the Line of Control (LOC) dividing the disputed Himalayan region.

"We deny it vehemently and it is absolute nonsense," a senior Indian defense official told Reuters. "Our air strikes have been very well calibrated and within our territory."

A Pakistan Army spokesman said in Islamabad India's raids were very serious. The two countries have gone to war over Kashmir twice since they won independence from Britain in 1947.

The raids signaled a sharp departure from the annual summertime skirmishing across a cease-fire line in Kashmir.

They also marked a new low point in a nine-year Muslim revolt against Indian rule in Kashmir that New Delhi says is fomented by Islamabad.

Mi-17 helicopter gunships backed by MiG fighter aircraft from India's air force strafed the guerrilla nests atop the snow-lined ridges looking down on a strategic road connecting Srinagar, Indian Kashmir's summer capital, and Kargil town.

There was no immediate estimate of damage.

The first round of air strikes began at 6.30 a.m. (0100 GMT) and lasted two hours. The second began at 2.30 p.m. (0900 GMT).

"The second series of raids went off successfully. All our aircraft are safely back," an Indian Air Force spokesman said.

The senior Indian defense official said the air strikes would continue until the Afghan mercenaries were dislodged from high ridges in Kashmir's Drass-Kargil-Batalik sectors, "or until the Pakistanis pull the militants back to their side."

"We have firm evidence now that those Afghan chaps are supplied by the Pakistan Army and are operating in close concert with the Pakistan army," the official said.

The United States and Britain voiced immediate concern.

"We're deeply concerned by reports of infiltration into Jammu Kashmir by groups of militants and of heavy fighting between them and the Indian security forces," a spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office said.

A U.S. spokeswoman in Delhi said Ambassador Richard Celeste had met Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes.

"We used the opportunity to express our concern about what is happening in Kargil and our hope that the situation can be contained and brought to an end," the spokeswoman said.

Washington has led western efforts to draw arch-foes India and Pakistan into the global regime for nuclear arms control since they conducted nuclear tests last year.

In February, Indian and Pakistani officials signed the Lahore Declaration, in which the two countries promised to work for better relations and to try to solve the Kashmir dispute.

India's air strikes shook the currency and stock markets at home but poleaxed share values in Pakistan. The news knocked three percent off the benchmark Bombay share index, before it recovered slightly to close 2.14 percent down at 3,973.30 points.

But the Karachi 100-share index was mauled by the strikes and was down 7.27 percent or 101.19 points at 1,290.78 at the close of the first trading session.

Traders said markets were hit by fears the conflict could escalate. Pakistan's army said it reserved the right to respond as it considered appropriate.

The air strikes mark the worst turn in relations with Pakistan since the two countries' nuclear tests in May 1998.

"The concern is obviously whether this might provoke a retaliation and therefore escalate," said Maulik Sharedalal, director of Kaji & Maulik Securities.

The Indian rupee ended at 42.825/835 per dollar compared to its previous close of 42.7475/7525. Currency dealers said the rupee would fall further if t

-- surprised (worried@world.com), May 26, 1999