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PAKISTAN RETREATS; INDIAN ELECTION
DATES ANNOUNCED
Pakistan agreed yesterday to withdraw
its troops from Kashmir thus partially bringing down
the curtains on a conflict that has claimed more than
1100 lives of Indian soldiers and Pakistani-backed
intruders in just two months. The Pakistani supporters
suffered almost twice as many casualties as the Indian
army, which lost 398 soldiers as against 691 Pakistanis.
The Pakistani's have till 16 July
to clear the Kargil sector and Indian defence forces
have committed not to fire at the retreating intruders
or carry out air strikes. But senior Indian army personnel
have said that they will not desist from attacking
intruders who continue to stay on in Indian territory
after the 16 July deadline.
While making the announcement to
the nation that the intrusions into Indian territory
were being stopped, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz
Shariff said that war was not a solution to settle
the disagreements between the two nations and called
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to reach
a favourable settlement. He, however, added that the
Pakistan government would continue to support terrorist
organisations, which have illegally occupied Indian
territory.
Sharif, under intense pressure from
the Bill Clinton administration to withdraw his troops,
finally told the reluctant terrorist organisations
to back off yesterday. And there were signs of withdrawal
from some sectors like Kaksar and Mushkoh valley,
while fighting erupted in some other sectors in the
Kashmir region. Some terrorist units made it clear
that any agreement between Shariff and Bill Clinton
will not be respected by them and that they would
continue to battle Indian troops for the land they
consider their's.
Vjapayee announced that the operation
to weed out infiltrators has not ended and that the
war will continue should Pakistan not stick to its
commitments. Over last week Indian armed forces had
beaten back the invaders close to the Line of Control
and had recaptured almost all that it had ceded to
Pakistani infiltrators
Meanwhile speculation relating to
the elections was put to rest with the announcement
of the dates when the country would go to the polls.
The Election Commission announced a five-phase schedule
starting 4 September and ending on 1 October with
the results being declared on 6 October. Polling is
to be held on 4, 11, 17 and 24 September and 1 October.
With the election dates being announced,
it is quite unlikely the caretaker government will
announce any major policy changes under the Election
Commission's election code. Hence DTH wannabes will
likely have to wait for at least another six months
before the next government gets enough will to clear
broadcasting regulations and the ban on DTH.
However, the government could still
hurl a surprise as it did when the Union Cabinet cleared
proposals for the operation of FM radio services by
private companies in India. Under these, no foreign
equity is to be allowed to be invested in radio firms
with each applicant having a capital adequacy of Rs
30 million and a working capital limit of Rs 20 million
apart from the licence fee of a minimum of Rs 12.5
million. This is to be invested in radio transmitters
and studios. The government has not laid down any
cross media restrictions, thus allowing foreign television
channels with registered Indian companies a chance
to foray into the new FM radio medium.
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