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Pakistan expands war front - fires on villages in Punjab
rediff.com ^ | May 20 2002 | PTI

Posted on 05/20/2002 2:50:15 PM PDT by AM2000

Expanding the front, Pakistani troops on Monday rained mortar shells on border areas of Gurdaspur district, Punjab, drawing retaliatory action from the Indian Army, defence sources said.

No one was injured in the shelling on villages Kotli Jawahar, Bilalpur and Tilotra in Narot Jaimal sector in Pathankot subdivision adjoining Jammu and Kashmir.

Thirty-two mortar shells were found in the villages, the sources said, adding two cattle heads perished in the Pakistani firing that lasted for about an hour.

Indian Army personnel returned the fire but the loss on Pakistani side was not known, the sources added.

In Chandigarh, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said the people in villages along the International Border were "not disturbed" in the wake of escalation of tension between India and Pakistan.

"The deputy commissioners of border districts -- Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur -- have been directed to visit the villages along the border to find out the situation," he said.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: india; pakistan; southasialist
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1 posted on 05/20/2002 2:50:15 PM PDT by AM2000
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To: AM2000
adding two cattle heads perished

That does it; dead cows! Now the Hindus are pissed. Children and women are OK to murder....but cows! Hindus don't like their sacred cows to be messed with.

Punjab is flatland. Very nice tank territory for all those Indian tanks to cut through and team up with the British marines in "East" afghanistan.

2 posted on 05/20/2002 2:58:04 PM PDT by swarthyguy
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To: swarthyguy
The Pakistanis are truly nuts.
3 posted on 05/20/2002 3:02:38 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty
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To: swarthyguy
Punjab is flatland.

Yeap. And more so, by firing across the border in Punjab, Pakistan is really spelling out its intentions. The border in Punjab is not in dispute by either side. This is Pakistans way of telling India to can any illusions of a "limited war", i.e. limited to the disputed LoC. If India initiates a war, Pakistans response will be across the LoC and the International Border.

4 posted on 05/20/2002 3:03:01 PM PDT by AM2000
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To: AM2000
Probably just getting the range while also giving away the locations of the artillery. Still not war. Amazingly, 99% of Americans are unaware anything is happening between India and Pakistan.
5 posted on 05/20/2002 3:04:16 PM PDT by RightWhale
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To: RightWhale
Well, you'd never know it from watching the news.
6 posted on 05/20/2002 3:06:59 PM PDT by swarthyguy
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To: RightWhale
"Still not war. Amazingly, 99% of Americans are unaware anything is happening between India and Pakistan."

I find most people I talk to on the street haven't a clue about 99 percent of what is going on anywhere in the world. Most are in that "Head in the sand" mode hoping it will all go away. Years of liberal media brainwashing will do that to you.

7 posted on 05/20/2002 3:12:23 PM PDT by JustAnAmerican
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To: *southasia_list
*Index Bump
8 posted on 05/20/2002 3:13:42 PM PDT by Fish out of Water
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To: JustAnAmerican
For many it's not just that the topics aren't covered in the daily news, it's that they don't want to hear about it. "Head in the sand" is on target.
9 posted on 05/20/2002 3:17:02 PM PDT by RightWhale
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Comment #10 Removed by Moderator

To: jeramy_fishel
I fear I'll be on the front line by myslef

I was told back in 1960, by a Russian immigrant who was still excessively proud of his motherland [they might do a lot wrong, but they are a strong people and cannot be stopped, he said], that when the next war comes it won't be a matter of armies clashing on the battlefield. He said we would all be in it. Even in Canada: nowhere to run.

11 posted on 05/20/2002 3:32:04 PM PDT by RightWhale
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To: swarthyguy
My question is, will the Moscow-Beijing Axis of 7/16/2001 trump the looser previously implied ones between India and the USSR, which Russia and India inherited? Personally, I'll place my bets on the former, given the fact that the PRC-Pak-Myanmar-Laos tier of the Trans-Asian Axis is a geopolitical boon to Moscow's grand ambitions. India, should she continue to naively believe that the Kremlin has India's best interests in mind (versus the true alliance that is possible between India and the US led Western Alliance), would likely get stabbed in the back by the Kremlin once things really heat up. Every great war sets the stage for the next one.

Connect the dots...

12 posted on 05/20/2002 4:27:28 PM PDT by GOP_1900AD
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To: swarthyguy
Please accept my sincere sympathies for the loss of said cows.
13 posted on 05/20/2002 5:03:56 PM PDT by happygrl
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To: happygrl
Maybe they were moo-slim cows undergoing a rigorous program of indoctrination.
14 posted on 05/20/2002 5:09:14 PM PDT by swarthyguy
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To: AM2000
If India initiates a war, Pakistans response will be across the LoC and the International Border.

I doubt whether Pakistan could make too much of an offensive move across either line. They are greatly outmanned and outgunned.

I'm not sure why they would have lobbed mortars at the cows. Maybe they looked like pigs from a distance?

15 posted on 05/20/2002 5:21:43 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: Dog Gone
I'm not sure why they would have lobbed mortars at the cows.

It's an insult to Hindus. Muslims have been killing cows and leaving their remains on Hindu temple grounds at night, for centuries. It's an old practice. Hindus kill pigs, and leave the remains on mosque grounds. The difference is, Hindus are saddened by the dead cow while Muslims are digusted by the dead pig. Both ways, they end up angry and they end up fighting. Different year, same old story.

16 posted on 05/20/2002 5:28:31 PM PDT by AM2000
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To: AM2000
Wow, and we want to be allies of both countries...

Oh well, it makes for interesting drama. When they start lobbing nukes at each other, it's going to be really interesting. Every day, I am thankful I live in this country and not some hellhole in South Asia.

17 posted on 05/20/2002 5:40:07 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: AM2000
Wasn't that Indian army base south of Jammu that was attacked last week already quite close to the Punjab?
18 posted on 05/20/2002 5:46:02 PM PDT by aristeides
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To: sheik yerbouty
Al Qaeda and its affiliates want to provoke a war between Pakistan and India. I wonder who was doing this shelling.
19 posted on 05/20/2002 5:48:45 PM PDT by aristeides
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To: aristeides
Yeah. Anything in the Jammu region is close to Punjab. However, that was a suicide attack by (presumably) civilian mujahideen, inside India. This is the actual Pakistani armed forces, infringing the recognized international border.
20 posted on 05/20/2002 5:52:23 PM PDT by AM2000
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