Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has told front line troops
in the disputed territory of Kashmir to prepare for a "decisive battle" against
Islamic insurgents.
Mr Vajpayee met
Indian soldiers on the second day of his visit to the troubled region, where
cross-border tensions with Pakistan have worsened.
We'll write a new chapter of
victory
 |
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Atal Behari Vajpayee
|
Pakistan has
expressed "deep concern" over the number of Indian troops along the border, and
said it was ready to fight if attacked.
India has
announced it is moving five warships to the Arabian Sea, closer to Pakistan in
view of "the nation's security concerns and the operational
situation".
The ships will
reach the area within a week.
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Any incursion into Pakistani
territory... will be met with full force
|
|
Pakistan spokesman Major General
Rashid Qureshi |
India
accuses Pakistan of training and financing Islamic militants who are fighting
for independence or the merger of Indian-controlled territory with
Pakistan.
Tensions rose
after India blamed Pakistani-backed fighters for an attack last week on an army
base in Jammu, which left more than 30 dead.
British Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw plans to visit the region next week, and a senior US State
Department envoy, Richard Armitage, is also due there soon in an effort to calm
tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Bellicose
"Be prepared for
sacrifices. But our aim should be victory, because it's now time for a decisive
fight," Mr Vajpayee told soldiers based at Kupwara, in northern
Kashmir.
"Our neighbour has found a new
way of fighting. They don't fight face-to-face any more," he
added.
"They are fighting a proxy war."
The
BBC's Adam Mynott in Delhi says it was a bellicose speech, but it was delivered
to a military audience which would have been expecting to hear tough talking
from their prime minister.
Pakistan has denied that it backs Islamic
insurgents.
A
statement issued after Wednesday's cabinet meeting chaired by President Pervez
Musharraf said "no organisation in Pakistan will be allowed to indulge in
terrorism in the name of Kashmir".
India and Pakistan are deploying about one million troops along their
disputed border.
Burial
The
funeral of a leading moderate separatist politician, Abdul Ghani Lone, has been
held in Srinagar.
Reports from his home town, Handwara, say the police imposed
restrictions on the movement of people to prevent his supporters from joining
his funeral procession.
Supporters rallied at Lone's funeral |
Lone was
assassinated on Tuesday by unidentified gunmen at a rally.
He was seen as a
moderate who wanted talks with the Indian Government over his demands for a
separate Kashmir state.
Indian-administered Kashmir's Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, said
the attack was the work of Islamabad, but the Pakistani Government was quick to
condemn the attack.
Shelling
Officials in
Pakistan-administered Kashmir say three people were killed and seven others
injured in overnight firing by Indian troops across the line of
control.
A Pakistani
official said that Tuesday night's shelling in Nakyal sector in the southern
district of Kotli "was heavy and the enemy troops ruthlessly targeted civilian
populations".
On Wednesday
afternoon, an Indian village was set aflame by Pakistani shells, officials in
Jammu said.
At least 60 houses
were destroyed in Manyari village in the Kathua sector.
"I was about to
have lunch when a Pakistani shell exploded in my backyard," one resident told
the AFP news agency.
Elsewhere, two
Indian soldiers were reported injured by cross-border
firing.
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