No, I don't think it was an intelligence failure. I also don't think our response has been inadequate. There is some infiltration every year when the snows melt and the intruders come and occupy posts vacated by the Army. This year, when Pakistan saw thestate was limping back to normalcy, when tourists were landing here in their thousands, they plotted something big. And they planned it meticulously. We were fully aware of what they were doing. When we decided to strike, we did it effectively. Our rapid action as well as the air-strikes have unnerved Pakistan.

See, this is very difficult terrain to operate in and, as I said, I do not think there has been any intelligence failure. When Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited Lahore, Pakistan was talking peace. We thought it was on the horizon and maybe some agencies were not vigilant enough. Ever since the snows started melting, they were on the move.

Onething is clear: Pakistan has failed to internationalise the Kashmir issue. They were foolish enough to think they would get international support. They have completely exposed themselves. They are now looking for a face-saving exit from the situation instead.

It is difficult for me to say precisely how much territory is with them. Only the Ministry of Defence can give this information. But a lot of the territory has now been cleared. Only the high ground remains. And the intercepts which are now coming in show that in many parts of Batalik and Drass, the intruders are fleeing. Their lines of communication and supplies have been hit. We have many wireless intercepts which indicate that the intruders want out, but the Pakistan Army is trying to hold them back.

It has to be so. There is no doubt that the Pakistan army is behind the whole show. Look at the firepower and the arsenal they are using. The Kargil battle has given us -- for the first time -- a great deal of evidence on the involvement of the Pakistan army. We have a long list of proofs, an array of evidence. All this will come out in the open later. What Pakistan has done here is what happened in 1947 during the Kabaili war. Pakistan first sent in tribals and backed them up later with their army regulars. This is exactly what they have done in Kargil. First the Afghan mercenaries and the locals from the North West Frontier Province came in as advance parties, and then the army commandos and infantrymen. Intercepts have revealed this pattern. We have taped conversations in Pukhtooni as well as evidence of the entire army network being activated.

It is difficult to give a date or a deadline, but I think the Indian troops have made very good progress. We all want peace to be restored. I think, with the channels of communication open between the two prime ministers, Inshallah, there shall be a respite soon.

What has happened proves something I have always been saying: that we (the people of Kashmir) are the ones who always suffer. It has been so after every war. This is a state that depends on tourism. And the very season that tourism picked up, when we had some 50,000 tourists in Kashmir and were looking forward to a better tomorrow, they have tried to push us back. Where is all this going to leave us?

Indians have displayed a great resilience. For a few days people talked about a nuclear threatand this did create some fear. But now the tourists are back, even as the air-strikes in Kargil continue. This is a wonderful sign. Some 2,000 tourists are still arriving every day, oblivious of the mountain war in Kargil.

The Government of India will have to meet the expenses and assessments of damage will be made once the Army action ends. The damage in at least five sectors is very extensive. In some areas, people may not be able to cultivate their fields for up to a year and we will have to give them free rations for a long time. Now we are taking care of the refugees. They have been displaced by the thousand...in towns like Kargil and Drass, there are hardly any people left.