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Germany has proof of Pak's involvement in Kargil

Germany has said it has authentic information that apart from Afghan militants, the Pakistani Army is involved in the infiltration in the Kargil sector.

Wolfgang Massing, the head of the Asia Desk in the Germany Foreign Affairs Ministry, said Pakistan had violated the Line of Control (LoC) and that ''this is an irresponsible behaviour to change the status quo and one cannot solve the problem by force and armed conflict.''

Massing was speaking at a question-answer session in Berlin on Thursday after a debate organised on ''Regional and global security implications of the Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapons tests--one year after,'' organised by the research institute of the German Society for Foreign Policy.

The participants in the debate were: Muchkund Dubey, chairman of the Centre for Social Development, New Delhi, and former foreign secretary; Dr Tanvir Ahmed Khan, director, Islamabad Institute of Strategic Studies and former foreign secretary of Pakistan; and Dr Michael Krepon, president of the Stimson Centre, Washington.

Massing said the German Government and European Union were aware of the fact that the Pakistani intrusion was the main cause of the present crisis in Indo-Pak relations.

During his presentation, Dr Krepon emphasised that the involvement of the Pakistani army in Kargil was a fact. He said the degree of planning, which included sophisticated weapons and hi-tech communication equipment, could not have been possible without the support of Pakistan.

Dr Krepon justified the Indian position that it could not accept the cease-fire without vacating the intrusion. The task, however, he said is quite difficult due to the high terrain and if India did not succeed, it may be forced to escalate the situation in other sectors. He also referred to the Lahore Declaration and added that he understood the sense of outrage in India.

Dubey gave a brief history of India's endeavours at international fora to ensure a nuclear weapons free world and mentioned India's security concerns which prompted it to conduct nuclear tests. The main casualty of the Kargil intrusion was India's confidence in Pakistan's intentions and it would take a very long time to rebuild it, he added.

Tanvir Ahmed Khan took the usual Pakistani line, stressing the centrality of the Kashmir issue and the long delay in ''meaningful response'' from India. He failed to respond adequately to the points raised about the involvement of the Pakistani Army in Kargil.

UNI

The Kargil Crisis

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