Army ready to foil Pak plan -- George

Army ready to foil Pak plan -- George

April 20: Asked about Abdullah's reported statement about possible Pakistani attempts to airdrop arms in the state, Fernandes felt the Chief Minister had only expressed his apprehensions in this regard. He said the Army, however, was ready to deal with any situation.

Replying to a supplementary by Rajesh Pilot, he said attacks by militants on Army cantonments in Jammu and Kashmir are either ``played up or distorted'' in the media and such incidents have no effect on the morale of the Army.

``Army is maintaining the highest of morale and is dealing with the situation,'' he said emphasising that these attacks by the suicide squads showed that Pakistan was using every weapon in its armoury in its proxy-war with India.

Stating that six such incidents had taken place since August last year, he said it was wrong to suggest that the militants had reached the operations room where the decisions by the security forces are taken. At the same time, he said he was not trying to minimise significance of such attacks.

``What can I say on this....,'' the Defence Minister saidwhen asked by Mulayam Singh Yadav about the claim of US President Bill Clinton that Washington forced Pakistan to withdraw its troops from Kargil during the conflict last year. He said the whole world knows it was the victory of the Indian army in Kargil.

He said following the Kargil conflict, the army has setup a new corps at Leh.