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ISI behind Saujiwan attack: Fernandes

June 30, 2003 18:25 IST
By Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Defence Minister George Fernandes on Monday blamed Pakistan's Inter-services Intelligence for last Saturday's attack on an army camp in Saujiwan in Jammu and said anybody who believes that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's peace initiave can be derailed by engineering such attacks must be out his mind.

At  least 13 armymen were killed and several injured in the Saujiwan attack.

Speaking to newsmen after felicitating an Indo-Nepal army team which scaled the Everest and Lhotse peaks in May, Fernandes said the attack was carried out by Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the two terrorists killed in it were Pakistanis.

Asked if the attack was timed to coincide with President A P J Abdul Kalam's visit to the state, the defence minister said: "It looks like that only."

On a statement made by Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri that there was a disparity between India and Pakistan in conventional weapons capabilities, he said Pakistan has been making the mistake of trying to match India's firepower.

Asked whether any decision has been taken on sending troops to Iraq, the defence minister said: "A team of Pentagon officials had visited India recently and we have raised some questions. We have not yet got replies to them. Once we get the information that we have sought then we would be able to take a decision about sending troops to Iraq."

 

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

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