Guest guest Posted May 25, 2002 Report Share Posted May 25, 2002 Indian PM Vajpayee Orders Intelligence to Scour Mid East for Musharraf-Saddam Links to Lay Before Bush DEBKAfile reports from its sources in New Delhi that Indian intelligence has been directed by the prime minister to scour the Middle East and the Persian Gulf for every scrap of information linking Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein with the Pakistani president, and Iraqi military intelligence with Pakistan's Inter-Services- Intelligence agency. These findings, the Indian government intends to put before the US government as a lever for forcing Musharraf to clamp down on Muslim extremists operating in Kashmir. If that does not work, India will resort to military action. DEBKAfile's sources quotes Indian circles as alleging that hundreds of al Qaeda Arab fighters are among those assailants. These Muslim terrorists are said to be roaming round the valleys of Kashmir ever since the first thaw in the mountain passes in early April, sheltering in caves. Indian troops have picked up many of these fighters, astonished to find a large number of Egyptians and Saudis, who confessed under interrogation that they had received their orders, destinations, money, weapons and ammunition from former "Afghanistan desk" officers of the Pakistani SIS. This intelligence has been passed from New Delhi to Washington. Thus far, the US president has not obtained an Indian undertaking to confine any military action to Muslim rebel and paramilitary bases inside Kashmir alone. Indian military leaders are eyeing bases inside Pakistan itself near the Kashmir frontier - or even deeper inside the country. As for Pakistan, Musharraf informed Washington that he would hold his army down to a limited military response to an Indian offensive, only if India does not step out of the borders of Kashmir. But if India strikes inside Pakistan proper, Pakistan would wield its nuclear might against military and strategic targets inside India. The Indian leader countered with a warning that if Islamabad fires nuclear weapons against Indian targets in Kashmir - or anywhere else - India would unleash the full might of its nuclear arsenal against Pakistani territory – destroying large parts of the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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