When asked whether the Indian plane had crossed into Pakistani air space

When asked whether the Indian plane had crossed into Pakistani air space, the spokesman said “not to our knowledge”. He also pointed out that the air strikes against the infiltrators take place only a few kilometres inside India and the jets travel very fast.The spokesman said that India would take “appropriate action” against Pakistan for its attack, but refused to be drawn further, except to say that retaliation “does not include targeting Pakistani missile bases” on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control.The second day of India’s air campaign against infiltrators in the high Himalayan wastes around Kargil began with pre-dawn raids on the positions attacked yesterday. Targets included the tents, stores and hideouts of some of the 600-odd troops – “Pakistani troops in disguise” as the Indian army spokesman described them.”We are targeting their weak points,” the spokesman said. “Ground troops will move in in the wake of the air attacks.” He described the infiltrators as “a large and suicidal force”. The spokesman said three Indian soldiers had been killed and seven injured in the past 48 hours. He claimed the number of infiltrators killed since air strikes began on Wednesday was now “far more than 160″.Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee convened an emergency meeting of Cabinet ministers and military chiefs to assess the situation.

“We have taken a decision, but I cannot tell you at this point of time,” Defence Minister George Fernandes said.India’s National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra told the Star television network: “We don’t think the situation will escalate into a general war There’s no need for any panic at all. When we went in for airstrikes, we went in knowing that there could be damage to our aircraft.”The United States, Britain, Russia and the UN\ Secretary-General urged restraint by both countries.. WESTERN INTELLIGENCE sources in Islamabad said yesterday they had evidence that the fighters attacked by India in disputed Kashmir had been trained in 40 camps set up in Pakistan along the line of control (LOC). The sources said that in recent months there has been an increase in training activities close to the LOC with 3,000 militants now concentrated in and around the disputed border zone. Many, they say, are Afghans or Arabs.
About 300 of the militants are believed to have crossed the border into India and occupied a series of Indian border posts left empty by the Indian Army during the harsh Himalayan winter. The posts, which mainly comprise reinforced concrete bunkers, dominate crucial supply routes.

The ridge is about 16,000 feet high.”For the Pakistanis everything is going perfectly,” a Western diplomat based in Islamabad said. “They want to keep Kashmir alive as an issue on the world stage and this is a very good way of doing it while causing massive difficulties for the Indians.”In Islamabad an army spokesman said that in addition to the air attacks, “ferocious” artillery duels were in progress across the LOC in the same general area as the air attacks. Last night refugees were fleeing Skardu in anticipation of more air raids.Yesterday’s duels were provoked, the spokesman said, when Indian troops came up to the border.On the Indian side the town of Kargil, the biggest centre of population in the region, was said to be almost deserted, 60 per cent of the population having fled from fear of air strikes from Pakistan.Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Sartaj Aziz, said that India should stop the escalation of fighting and honour the Lahore Declaration, signed by the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers barely three months ago, in which the neighbouring countries promised to settle their differences through negotiations.But a Pakistani army spokesman warned that the situation was now highly volatile. “I fear that patience is going to run low after some time here,” he said. “There is a limit to the amount of restraint one can exercise … If they continue to escalate the way they are doing, they will suffer very, very badly.”Today is the first anniversary of Pakistan’s nuclear tests.