India-Pakistan: Recent Military Encounters on the Line of Control (27 August 2002)

Geneva, August 27, 2002
India-Pakistan: Recent Military Encounters on the Line of Control (LoC)
On August 23, 2002, Pakistan military spokesperson, Major-General Qureshi, announced that Pakistani troops had beaten back an Indian air-supported military offensive in the Gultari area. The Gultari area, facing Drass and Kargil, is on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC). The Pakistan's army spokesman claimed dozens of Indian military casualties in the process.
It was not immediately clear what encounter along the LoC Major-General Qureshi was referring to and what the real situation was. Nonetheless, an in-depth enquiry reveals different facets of the situation, where military activities blend together with diplomacy at a time when the United States is engaged in the region in an unprecedented fashion.
Major-General Qureshi's statement came as US Deputy-Secretary of State Richard Armitage was in New Delhi, attending a fresh round of talks on military de-escalation between India and Pakistan. The Pakistani allegation was clearly meant to incriminate India for its "aggressive" posturing and "unilateral" violation of the LoC. It should be noted that both countries are aware violation of the LoC is an option inconsistent with the UN Security Council Resolutions and the Shimla Agreement that are binding on both of them. Moreover, post-1971, the Line of Control is not only a cease-fire-line but a Line of (Actual) Control, a temporary status which should ultimately lead, according to most analysts, to the conversion of the LoC into a formal international border between the two estranged neighbours.
It should also be remembered that in May-June 1999, in one more instance of its violation of all previous treaties and agreements, the Pakistan Army and Pakistani-backed guerrillas infiltrated the Kargil-Drass sector on the Indian side of the LoC. The covert-operation's aim was to cut off these areas from Indian military and civilian control: the Kargil-Drass sector secures access to the Srinagar-Leh highway for military and civilian supplies. The take-over of this sector was meant at cutting off the entire Ladakh region from, and securing Pakistani troops' access to, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir's capital. During the previous winter, Pakistan's Army had taken positions way beyond the demarcated Line of Control into the Indian side of Kashmir, provoking India, in spring, to repulse the intruders. The operation resulted in the threat of a full-fledged war between the two countries. Washington's muscular diplomacy averted the course of action. Partly due to the capitulation of Pakistan's civilian government and partly to deflect attention from the failure of Pakistan Army's plans, the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Pervez Musharraf deposed Prime Minister Shariff in October 1999, in the third military coup out of four military rules since Pakistan's inception in 1947.
Since May 2002, the situation in the Kargil sector has been described by local military and civilian observers as 'volatile' again. Earlier this summer, Indian troops reoccupied Point 5070 (named, like others, after its altitude in meters) in the Drass Sector. Point 5070 dominates the strategically vital Mushkoh Nullah Stream, East of Drass sub-sector (the scene of the bloodiest fighting during the 99' Kargil war). To date, fighting continues over Point 5303 in the Marpo La area, West of Drass. The conflict lead, on August 19, to intense artillery exchanges up and down the LoC in the Kargil sector. On the other hand, the Indian Union Defence Ministry has so far resisted high level pressures for assault on Point 5353. Point 5353 (the highest feature in the Drass sector) is still occupied by Pakistani forces as a result of the Kargil offensive. Pakistan Army assaults from this point have hampered the retaking of this mountain area by Indian forces in order to restore their position prior to the June 1999 Kargil war.
On July 29, at 13:15, eight Indian Mirage 2000 aircraft sorties were carried out against Pakistan-held positions at Loonda Post, on the Indian side of the LoC, in the Marchil sector. A thousand pound precision-guided bombs were used to obliterate four bunkers occupied by Pakistan, while 155 millimetre Bofors Howitzers were used to hit troops who had dug into trenches prepared by Indian troops earlier. It is reported that at least 28 Pakistani soldiers were killed in this fighting. India may try to regain Point 5353 and precursor clashes, occurring almost on a day to day basis, may be what Major-General Qureshi was referring to in his 23 August statement. Furthermore, Major-General Qureshi was probably hopeful that his dramatic announcement would send a signal to the international community that the continuing clashes along the LoC could spiral out of control.
To his credit, Richard Armitage did not endorse Major-General Qureshi's claim even though he observed that, for the moment, Pakistan was not systematically providing militarily support to guerrillas infiltrating into Indian Kashmir. Hopefully, US intelligence, with the vast range of tools at its disposal, would be in a position to carefully analyse the situation and provide US policy-makers with an objective and accurate assessment of actual developments on the ground. Firm action is urgently needed by the USA and other countries with leverage on Pakistan so that the 140 million citizens of Pakistan can be spared the trauma of yet another war which their country can ill afford.
The above information and comments have been compiled by the Kashmir Desk, Centre for South Asian Studies, 29 rue de Neuchātel - Ch 1201 Geneva - e-mail: sarc@vtx.ch