Pak army braces for Indian assault

Intelligence sources said an edgy Pakistan army is bracing for a potential assault by the Indian Army in the aftermath of the terrorist strike in Mumbai, reports Rahul Singh.

An edgy Pakistan army is bracing for a potential assault by the Indian Army in the aftermath of the terrorist strike in Mumbai. Intelligence sources said Pakistan feared retaliation and has asked its military formations to stay prepared for any eventuality.

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Intelligence inputs accessed by HT on Sunday revealed that the Pakistani military establishment was extremely apprehensive about an unpredictable response from India and it had passed operational orders to strengthen defences and bump up weapon stores.

Security expert K. Subrahmanyam, a member of the Kargil Committee Report, said: “It’s a prelude to mobilising tens of thousands of Pakistani troops from the western front to the eastern border with India. Mumbai was a conspiracy to provoke India so that Pakistan could tell the US that it can’t fight the Taliban on the Afghan border due to the threat from India.”

An officer at Army Headquarters said the army had no immediate plans to mobilise its war machinery along the western border as it done after the December 13 attack on Parliament. Triggering dry-mouth fear across the border, India had in 2001-02 launched Op Parakram that marked the army’s largest troop mobilisation after the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

He said, “The Pakistan army had least expected India to mobilise troops. We were deployed along the border for over 10 months. Their nervousness springs from the aggressive posture we adopted in 2001. They can’t match out conventional military might.”

Intelligence sources said orders had been passed to field commanders in PoK and Force Command Northern Areas (comprising Skardu and Gilgit) to report the slightest military activity on the Indian side. Another serving officer said Pakistan was edgy because it had sizeable military assets deployed along the Afghan border. “This makes them feel vulnerable along the eastern border,” he said.