Armed Forces Ready for War with Pakistan: Indian Army Chief

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 11, 2002

Armed Forces Ready for War with Pakistan: Indian Army Chief

Indian armed forces were "fully ready" for a war with Pakistan but a decision on it would have to be taken by the political leadership, Indian Army Chief S.Padmanabhan said Friday.

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Indian armed forces were "fully ready" for a war with Pakistan but a decision on it would have to be taken by the political leadership, Indian Army Chief S.Padmanabhan said Friday.

Terming the situation along the Indo-Pakistan as "serious", Padmanabhan asserted at the press conference that India had the capability of launching a second strike if attacked with nuclear weapons.

However, he indicated that New Delhi would not be the first to use unclear weapons against Pakistan, saying that it would have tobe a (Pakistani) leader who are "mad enough" to consider use of such arsenal.

If India's armed forces, people, economic and other key assets were targeted with atomic weapons in the event of a conflict, the armed chief said, the enemy would be "punished so severely" that it's "continuation will become doubtful".

A nuclear exchange in South Asia would create "disaster" affecting western and eastern oil supplies and creating a "hue andcry", he said, adding that his country was not to be the first to use nuclear weapons.

Shortly after its nuclear tests in May 1998, New Delhi declaredthat it would not be the first to use nuclear weapons against anyone.

Padmanabhan admitted that the current situation was comparable to that at the time of Indo-Pakistan war in 1965, saying that it was "true" that there was a scope of limited conventional war between the two neighbors.

Indo-Pakistan tensions were escalated since the terrorist attack on Indian parliament in December last year, which New Delhiclaimed was sponsored by Pakistan-based Islamic organizations.

"When the two countries mobilize their strength on the borders,it is not normal. the situation can comfortably be described as serious," said the army general.

He expressed his confidence that there would be peace and tranquillity along the Indo-China border, whatever might happen elsewhere.

Padmanabhan emphasized that relations between India and China had been set on a fairly even keel for the last decade with the signing of a treaty of peace and tranquillity between the two countries.

This is the first time an Indian general talked about possibility of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan since lastDecember's attack on the parliament.

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