Calcutta, Aug 28: Pakistan had been waging a proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir taking advantage of growing unemployment in the country, said Defence Minister George Fernandes.
''There are 41 million registered unemployed in the country and Pakistan is taking advantage of it and fighting a proxy war,'' Fernandes said while releasing a collection of stories on the Kargil War here. He said unemployment was the main reason for growing insurgency in the country and Jammu and Kashmir was no exception to this.
''The 2000-odd United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) men and women, who have surrendered, have asked for jobs only and nothing else,'' he pointed out. Referring to the Kargil War, the Defence Minister charged Pakistan with betraying the 22-year-old understanding between the two countries over the non-demarcation of Line of Control in the remote Kargil and Dras sectors.
He dismissed the allegations of army slackness in the Kargil sector and lambasted the previous governments for not taking proper care of the armed forces. ''It is unfortunate that practically no concern was shown for the armed forces for nearly 20 years even by Parliament till the Atal Behari Vajpayee government came to power,'' he said.
Fernandes regretted the general insensitivity towards the armed forces: ''If we are so insensitive towards those who stake their lives for the country how we can care for national security. The general feeling is that we are paying taxes and those in uniform will do the fighting.
''Army is the fist and the Janata is the arm. The fist will be strengthened only when the people are totally committed to national security. Unfortunately, this type of commitment has not been a way of life with us,'' he pointed out. He assured that there would not be another mistake of the Kargil kind in the future and said the National Democratic Front government had taken enough precautionary measures.
He, however, said it would take some time to procure weapons of latest technology. ''Lack of proper attention by the previous governments has taken us 17 years to procure advanced jet trainer,'' he observed. Refuting the allegation that the setting up of the committee to probe intelligence failure in Kargil was eyewash, Fernandes said the report of the committee had already been made public.
He said the four task forces set up by his government on internal security and intelligence would submit their reports to the government shortly.
— UNI
