'Not Impressed By Missile Antics'

Ms. Rao: Good Afternoon Ladiesand Gentlemen.

We have some information fromthe Defence Ministry  about the encounter with terrorists at Rajouri.

Based on information providedby locals  on the presence of terrorists in village Chhawa in the Rajouri area,  five columns of thearmy along with the Jammu and Kashmir Police were launched for operation. Contact was established with theterrorists at 1830 hrs on 24 May 2002. One terrorist was killed in the initial encounter and dead bodies oftwo more terrorists were recovered during the search operation this morning (May 25, 2002). Another terroristwas apprehended while trying to escape.

One must note here that theoperation was conducted on the basis of information received from locals, from the civilian population and Ithink this flies in the face of Pakistan’s claims about the people of Jammu and Kashmir being on their side.Nothing could be further from the truth and this is evidenced by what we saw today, information regarding thepresence of terrorists in this particular area was provided by the local people to the security forces.

The details of casualties andrecovery in the entire operation are as follows:

Terrorists Killed: 3
Army personnel killed: 1
Army Personnel wounded: 3
SPO of J&K Police Killed: 1

The security forces haverecovered 5 AK 47 Rifles, 2 Pistols and 2 Radio sets from the terrorists. Initials investigation revealed thatthe apprehended terrorist is Anjuman Suhail, a resident of Kotli in POK and he belongs to Hizb-ul-Mujaheedin.He claims to have infiltrated from Kotli in March 2001 and was now apparently part of a group tasked to targeta newly constructed Hindu Temple in Rajouri.

Apart from the information Ihad conveyed to you yesterday about Commissioner Patten’s visit and the very clear message that wasexpressed by Mr. Patten about the need for Pakistan to move quickly and move meaningfully on the issue ofcontrol of terrorist groups and organizations and the fact that India’s patience has been stretched beyondbreaking point and the absolute clarity with which Mr. Patten expressed himself about the fact that Pakistancannot turn on and turn off the terrorist tap and use it as an adjunct to diplomacy, you would also seen thestatement of the UN Secretary General which was carried in some of the Indian newspapers today, in which theSecretary General has unconditionally condemned all acts of terrorism and said that there can be no tolerancefor such acts especially across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. The Secretary General has urgedGeneral Musharraf to take vigorous action to ensure full implementation of the policy set out in his speech of12^th January.

So you have seen anincreasing level of awareness, heightened level of awareness about the situation that confronts India and theproblem created by cross-border terrorism and the need above all for Pakistan to take steps to curb theactivities of these terrorist groups and to put an end to such policies.

Do you have anything on the RussianPresident’s invitation to Prime Minister Vajpayee and Gen. Musharraf for talks?
We have spoken to our Embassy in Moscow andthe factual position is that at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg this morning when President Putin wasasked a question about the current tension between India and Pakistan he reportedly  stated that, hehoped to meet with Prime Minister Vajpayee and also to meet with Gen. Musharraf at the forthcoming CICA Summitin Almaty. And that he hoped that through such meetings tension in our region could be helped to de-escalate.

Did he not talk about mediation?
No. This is exactly what was stated.

Would you react to Pakistan’s missile test?
You are aware of what we said yesterday. Ofcourse we completely stand by that statement.  It’s difficult to understand how this can be called atechnology demonstration because we all know, the world knows, that Pakistan has acquired the technology andthe material for its missiles programme clandestinely. There is nothing indigenous about this programme andwhat you are essentially seeing are the fruits of missile proliferation by Pakistan and its delinquentpolicies and its clandestine approach to the acquisition of such technology. Today’s firing has demonstratedthat and one fails to understand why Pakistan has chosen this moment to deplete one of the readymade missilesin its stock. It could possibly be directed at domestic audiences in Pakistan perhaps, as we said yesterday.

Are you hinting at MTCR?
No, I am talking about the clandestineacquisition. I am not in a business of hinting here, I am just giving you a very clear, unequivocal statementof how we view this event and you would have to read it with our statement of yesterday. We spoke of missileantics and …

You said that, do you think that it is MTCRrelated?
Well, that is something that has to beexamined separately. I am not going into that now and we have to talk with our experts and draw theappropriate conclusions after that but you asked me about the firing today. I don’t even call it a test,it’s a firing of a missile. I have explained to you what our position is.

Are you going to react to the meeting offer byPresident Putin?
Aap pucch rahen the mere se ki PresidentPutin ne kya kahan hain, to humne uske upar, we have tried to explain it to you.

Will there be a joint meeting of India andPakistan with Russia?
No, these are separate meetings. These aremeetings that he is going to have separately, like it is usual at such summits, aam tor pe leaders kemeetings hote rahtein hain, during such summits.. It is normal for bilateral meetings to takeplace, bilateral, one-to-one, one side to the other. That is the context in which you should view this. 

Can you tell us about the meeting of AtomicCommission going on in Chennai?
Meeting going on in Chennai? I am sorry thisis the Ministry of External Affairs. We haven’t lost our way, have we? No, I am not going to talk about themeetings which fall outside the purview of the Ministry of External Affairs.  

[inaudible..]
No, I have no information. Maybe you could ask the Defence Ministry about that. But, as I said, everything hasto be checked on the ground. If there is a sign hanging out our door at this moment, its "deeds notwords." 

What is the nationality of the apprehendedterrorist?
He is a resident of  Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and this is based on the  initial investigation thatwe have conducted.  Initial investigations, I have a report of, I don’t have any further details. But,obviously, as the investigations are completed, we will have more detailed data about this person who is the apprehended terrorist. This started at 6.30 last evening and it went on to the morning of today.

Any contact between Prime Minister andPresident Chirac?
I am not aware of it, you mean Prime Minister speaking to the French President. I can check on that.

The missile test carried out was indigenous,according to some reports. Do you agree with that?
Maya, excuse me. One of  the channels today referred to or used the word ‘indigenous’ to describethis firing of the missile. Nothing can be farther from the truth. There is nothing indigenous about thismissile that was tested today by Pakistan. That’s a Pakistani claim but lets get the facts straight here andthat claim is not borne out by any evidence that we have or the world community has.