Indian General Talks Bluntly of War and a Nuclear Threat
By CELIA W. DUGGER
(AP)
NEW DELHI, Jan. 11 — India's army chief declared today that the military was fully prepared for a large-scale conventional war with Pakistan and was also ready to deliver a devastating nuclear strike should Pakistan use its nuclear arsenal first.
General S. Padmanabhan said he was confident he could sustain his troops' morale even if India's military buildup lasted a long time. "If we have to go to war, jolly good," he said. "If we don't, we will still manage."
Asked how India would respond if attacked with a nuclear weapon, he assured a packed news conference that "the perpetrator of that particular outrage shall be punished so severely that their continuation thereafter in any form of fray will be doubtful."
In answer to another question, he said, "We are ready for a second strike, yes," and added that India had sufficient nuclear weapons. "Take it from me, we have enough."
A senior Indian official was quick to say that the general's pithy, bellicose remarks were not cleared by the prime minister's office. But the official's unease had more to do with the timing of the general's remarks than with their substance.
Their delivery came on the eve of a crucial speech by Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and could make it harder for the Pakistani president to offer a commitment to shut down extreme Islamic groups battling India in Kashmir.
India has mounted a massive military buildup since a Dec. 13 assault on Parliament that India blamed on two militant groups it said were acting at the behest of Pakistan's military intelligence agency. India has shifted ballistic missiles, tanks, jet fighters and hundreds of thousands of troops to its border with Pakistan.
Responding to the Indian Army chief's remarks, a spokesman for Pakistan's military regime said this evening that Pakistan was militarily prepared "in case the enemy undertakes a misadventure," but refused to rebut the Indian general further.
"Responsible military men do not talk of war lightly and we are responsible soldiers," the Pakistani spokesman said.
A senior Western diplomat, who has been pleading with India to give General Musharraf credit for arresting some of the leaders of these groups, groaned in dismay at the Indian general's comments.
"This is going to make it much more difficult for Musharraf to be forthcoming and conciliatory tomorrow night," said the diplomat, who added that India's army chief "shouldn't be allowed to give a press conference at all at such a moment of acute tension. The more you talk of war the less freedom of movement you give the other side."
The general's remarks are also likely to heighten worries that India's repeated threats to go to war with Pakistan are serious, not just bluffs aimed at getting Pakistan to act and "frightening the Americans into bringing peace to the subcontinent on Indian terms," as P. R. Chari, a retired Indian defense ministry official, put it.
The comments by the Indian Army chief seemed to catch even India's elected leaders off guard.
The prime minister's office requested a transcript of the briefing and had not cleared comments the general made about a nuclear riposte, Indian officials said.
A senior official pointedly noted that in India, "Civilian control of the military is supreme," and said General Padmanabhan should not have talked about India's heightened state of nuclear readiness — though the official also confirmed that the statements were generally accurate.
Asked if the timing of the army chief's comments might complicate General Musharraf's efforts to make concessions to India, the Indian official said, "I hope not."
General Padmanabhan, who earned a reputation as a tough, aggressive commander in Kashmir, zestfully answered a barrage of questions.
"Any number of questions, I am ready," he said. "I am quite enjoying it."
While he reiterated India's commitment not to use nuclear weapons first, he said that if Pakistan — which has made no such commitment — struck Indian armed forces, ships at sea or economic or human targets, it would pay heavily.
The government, he said, would decide if and when India goes to war, but he gave the clear impression of a man itching for a fight.
Since the mid-1990's, Pakistan has waged a proxy war with India through Islamic militants in Kashmir, a Himalayan territory both countries claim.
Those militants kill Indian soldiers in guerrilla attacks virtually every day.
Like India's civilian leaders, the general also said that Pakistan's efforts were largely cosmetic and had not reduced the violence in Kashmir.
In the last year, he said, the violence has been at its highest.
"The number of kills has correspondingly jumped," he said, explaining that the army, which has killed 1,400 militants a year in the past, killed more than 2,000 last year, 70 percent of them Pakistanis.
"In fact, the month average from June onwards is 200 terrorists killed a month," he said. "These are frightfully high figures and yet the termites start coming again and again from new holes."
Reporters repeatedly tried to draw the general out on what strategy the military might pursue in the event of a war.
He gave no definitive answers, but he did offer some clues.
Asked if India might strike militant training camps in Pakistan-controlled portions of Kashmir, he replied that such an option was viable.
"If possibly we know the location of the camp well, we possess the arms to reach those camps and if we can believe that civilians will not be killed unnecessarily, then we can destroy them," he said.
A bit later, when asked if India might launch an offensive on other parts of the border with Pakistan, he threw the question back at the journalist.
"This is the devilish military mind again," he said. "What would you do sir?"
"I would like to get that answer from you, sir," the journalist replied.
"We'll see," the general answered. "When the time comes, decision will be taken."
Some defense analysts here have contended that the Indians and Pakistanis will not go to war because of the substantial number of American troops deployed at air bases in Pakistan.
The general acknowledged that this situation might be inhibiting, as well as giving the Americans a reason to discourage fighting.
"On the other hand," he said, "when two wild bulls decide to fight in a jungle, they carry on regardless." |
