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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (42606)	5/19/2002 1:01:17 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

India goes on war path (Updated at 2200 PST) NEW DELHI: Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh announced Sunday a stepped-up mobilisation in Kashmir, with paramilitary forces there being transferred from the command of the interior ministry to the army, reports a foreign news agency. He also announced, at the end of a two-hour meeting between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his security cabinet, that the coast guard had been placed under the command of the navy. "The Indian paramilitary forces on the border have been placed under the overall command of the army and the coast guard will be under naval command," Singh said. "The rationale is part of the preparation as there can only be one authority if they are on border duty," Singh said. He described the stepped-up mobilisation as "standard operating procedure." "If any artillery fire comes on our forces from across the border then they will be immediately retaliated," Singh said. "The paramilitary is with the army and therefore the command must be unified," Singh said, ruling out as "fiction" speculation that India was mulling cross-border strikes. The foreign minister, however, said Vajpayee's Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) also discussed a review of the Most Favourite Nation (MFN) status accorded by India to its South Asian neighbour Pakistan. "The CCS discussed the MFN issue but the commerce minister is out of India and after discussing with him a decision will be announced," Singh said, amid speculation that India could withdraw the status as another strategy to mount pressure on Pakistan. No decision was taken about the Indus Water treaty. The decisions were taken during a two-hour CCS meeting, which was summoned by Vajpayee for the second time in two days. The meeting, attended by the chief of India's army, navy and air force, was held in the wake of a second attack in less than a week by Islamic rebels on Indian army camps in Kashmir. The CCS comprises Home Minister L.K. Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, as well as the chiefs of the Indian army, navy and air force.