Indian military on alert amid Pakistani uncertainty

Vajpayee

October 13, 1999
Web posted at: 2:14 a.m. HKT (1814 GMT)

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- India's armed forces were on alert along its border with Pakistan on Tuesday after the Pakistani army ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Pakistan's military dismissed Sharif and his government after the prime minister tried to sack his military chief, Gen. Parvaiz Musharraf. The two had clashed over Sharif's decision to pull Islamic militants out of the disputed region of Kashmir during a border clash this summer with India.

"This is a serious development for ... Kashmir," said a senior Indian officer in Kashmir, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called a crisis meeting Tuesday night after reports of the military action surfaced. The Cabinet Committee on Security was to meet Wednesday, immediately after Vajpayee was sworn in for another term as prime minister.

Vajpayee was re-elected as India's leader in a vote that concluded earlier this month. One of his election promises was to restart peace talks with Sharif, which had been stalled by the border dispute in the Kargil region of Kashmir.

"Reports emanating from Pakistan are causing grave concern," said Vajpayee spokesman Ashok Tandon. "We're monitoring the situation."

Both India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons last year.

Tandon added that New Delhi had been in touch with the staff at India's mission in Islamabad, Pakistan, and that all personnel were said to be safe.

Despite the reports of confusion from Islamabad, bus service between India and Pakistan had not been suspended, according to J.S. Malhotra, an official of the Indian state-run Delhi Transport Corporation.

India and Pakistan have been at war two times over Kashmir in their half-century as independent nations. Tensions came near another war this summer when Islamic militants crossed the "line of control" marking the border between Pakistani- and Indian-controlled territory in the Himalayan region.

The border dispute cooled when Sharif bowed to U.S. pressure and ordered the militants to return to Pakistan.

Pakistan's military was reportedly at odds with Sharif over that action, particularly army chief Gen. Parvaiz Musharraf, fired by the prime minister Tuesday just two hours before the army mobilized.

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