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India dismisses Washington Post report as 'unsubstantiated'

The Indian embassy has dismissed as ''unsubstantiated'' the Washington Post 's comment on India's ''policy of hegemony in the Asian subcontinent.''

On the contrary, ''India has sought to build up a network of co-operative bilateral and regional relationships with all its neighbours, including Pakistan, as evidenced by the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation and other more recent initiatives,'' Indian embassy press counsellor Navatej Sarna said in his rejoinder which appeared in the daily yesterday.

He said the May 30 editorial ''New at the Nuclear Game'' ignored fundamental facts in trying to review the present situation in the Kargil sector of India, including the massive intrusion into Indian territory of several hundred mercenaries and Pakistani regulars armed with modern weapons, including Stinger missiles.

He said these intruders set up positions that threatened to change the Line of Control agreed to under the bilateral Simla Agreement and to cut off communications and civil supplies between the Indian towns of Srinagar, Kargil and Leh.

''The editorial does not address the core question as to how these armed intruders reached these positions in inhospitable terrain if they were not given massive logistical support by the Pakistani armed forces,'' he added.

The Indian diplomat said his country's action through a joint air and ground operation, intended to expel the intruders from its territory and restricted to its own side of the Line of Control, was perfectly legitimate.

The Kargil Crisis

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