The Kargil conflict will not delay the elections for the 13th Lok Sabha, according to home minister L K Advani.
"We have our assessment. The Prime Minister and the Chief Election Commissioner have declared that the elections will take place in September, as per schedule," Advani said said at a press conference here yesterday.
Advani claimed that the aggression had been contained and it was only a matter of time before it is "completely foiled".
He said the government was probing the circumstances that had led to large scale infiltration by Pakistani army regulars and militants in the Kargil region.
He denied that the government had dropped its guard in the Kashmir Valley over the past 15 months, resulting in its failure to detect the Pakistani build up along the Line of Control (LoC).
"There is no question of dropping our guards. If it was so, the government would not have taken such swift action," the home minister said.
He disclosed that preliminary assessment indicated that much of the work of the infiltrators, like identifying and training the personnel to be sent across the border, was done well within the Pakistani side of the LoC.
He said he did not foresee Pakistan opening up new battle fronts to divert attention from Kargil. "We would like this conflict to be limited while being prepared for all eventualities," he said.
Advani said Pakistan had misjudged the Indian democratic system and leadership. "They had never imagined that Vajpayee, who took the historic initiative of the Lahore bus ride and earned the encomiums of the whole world by his earnestness in wanting lasting friendship with Pakistan, would not hesitate in calling the air force to fight the Pakistani aggression," he claimed.
He said while the proxy war waged by Pakistan had been going on for over 10 years, it was for the first time that the Indian Air Force has been used to pound the infiltrators' bases. Advani defended defence minister George Fernandes and said Fernandes had "acquitted himself admirably well".
Rarely had there been a defence minister in the past who had such a good rapport with the jawans and had played an active role in strengthening the country's defence, he claimed.
