Indian Warships Go Toward Pakistan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, May 23, 2002

Indian Warships Go Toward Pakistan

India has moved five warships closer to Pakistani waters to bolster forces in the area, the navy said Wednesday, amid growing tensions between the Southeast Asian rivals.

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India has moved five warships closer to Pakistani waters to bolster forces in the area, the navy said Wednesday, amid growing tensions between the Southeast Asian rivals.

Indian officials said they moved the ships from their eastern naval command in the Bay of Bengal to the western command off Bombay, in the Arabian Sea, about 500 nautical miles from the Pakistani port of Karachi.

"The front-line warships have been moved in view of the prevailing situation and in keeping with India's maritime interests," said Indian navy spokesman Cmdr. Rahul Gupta.

"The deployment of the ships is to increase the operational preparedness of the western sea force," he said.

The five warships included a guided missile destroyer, a frigate and three missile corvettes. India's fleet includes an aircraft carrier, eight destroyers, 10 frigates and 17 to 19 submarines.

The deployment had been completed and the warships placed under the control of the Western Naval Command, Gupta said.

The ships could be deployed anywhere in the Arabian Sea.

The Indian navy carried out a similar transfer of warships during the 11-week conflict with Pakistan in the Himalayan heights at Kargil in 1999 and during the 1971 war with Pakistan.

Fears of war between the nuclear-armed rivals have increased as cross-border shelling killed dozens over the past week. India and Pakistan have massed 1 million troops along their border. The neighbors have fought two wars over divided Kashmir, a Himalayan region both claim in its entirety.

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