India Reports Gains in Kashmir Offensive

India claimed success Friday in recapturing key areas of high ground in its offensive against what it says are Pakistani-backed guerrillas on its side of the disputed Kashmir region.

“There is a hand-to-hand fight in the Batalik sector,” a senior army officer, who asked not to be identified, said at Batalik, which along with Kargil and Dras form the three key points of action.

“We have pushed the infiltrators back behind the Line of Control in some of the posts in Batalik,” the officer said.

India launched an air offensive, later buttressed by ground forces, on May 26 to flush out the infiltrators, who India claims includes Pakistani soldiers.

India bristled at what it said were Pakistani infiltration attempts to alter the Line of Control dividing Kashmir. India occupies two-thirds of the disputed region; Pakistan, the rest.

“We call upon Pakistan to respect the sanctity of the Line of Control, give up its desperate and foolhardy attempts to change it and stop its cross-border terrorism against India,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement.

“We have been able to get a substantial foothold in Batalik, Dras and some parts of Mashkok sectors,” army spokesman Brig. Mohan Bhandari told reporters in New Delhi. “In the Batalik sector, we have cleared five heights [of infiltrators] and a similar number of heights in Dras and Mashkok.”

Bhandari said there were still four to five high areas from which intruders had to be evicted and three to four in Dras.

The bodies of three Pakistani soldiers who were killed in Batalik will be handed over to Pakistan, he said.

Indian fighter pilot K. Nachiketa, whose plane went down on Pakistan’s side of Kashmir during a mission last week, crossed the border into India after being freed Thursday.

He arrived in New Delhi and was welcomed by his relieved parents and the air force chief, Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis.

Nachiketa later met with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at his official residence.

Asked if he was ready to go on a mission again, he said: “Definitely. As soon as possible.

“I was not hit by a missile. I had an engine problem,” he said in response to a question about how he ejected from his aircraft.

Pakistan says his aircraft was hit by a missile after it crossed the cease-fire line. India denies that it violated Pakistan’s airspace.

India lost one pilot who it said went to look where Nachiketa’s MIG-27 had gone down. Pakistan says both jets were hit by missiles because they entered its territory.

A military official said Pakistan had fired artillery shells along new points of the control line in Kashmir. The two nations have fought two wars over the Kashmir issue since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

But a Pakistani spokesman said the firing was carried out in response to India’s actions.

India “did strafe and bomb close to the Line of Control, and some bombs fell on the Pakistan side of the Line of Control,” Brig. Rashid Qureshi said.

Tensions over Kashmir have reached their highest levels in nearly three decades after New Delhi accused Pakistan of arming and sending guerrillas into Indian-held territory.

The Pakistani government in Islamabad denies the accusation. It contends that Indian air raids on “freedom fighters” in Kashmir had sharply escalated tensions.

President Clinton has written to the prime ministers of both countries urging a peaceful solution between the nuclear-capable rivals, Indian officials said.

“In the letter, President Clinton has intimated that he had also written to [Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif] calling upon him to take steps to defuse the crisis and respect the Line of Control,” an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman refused to disclose details of Clinton’s letter to Vajpayee, the Indian premier. Clinton’s concern “is reflective of the widespread concern that has been expressed all over the world about intrusions that have taken place,” the spokesman said.

India was examining a Pakistani proposal that its Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz travel to New Delhi on Monday for talks to defuse the crisis in Kashmir, the spokesman said.

“We would like the talks to go on. [The outcome] depends on Pakistan,” Vajpayee said of the planned visit.