novel DELHI, May 22 Kyodo (EDS: U...

novel DELHI, May 22 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING)

Amid escalation of tension with Pakistan, India announced Wednesday it has opened five navy warships to the Arabian Sea near Pakistan to augment navy ships already there.

The announcement came after Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee declared earlier Wednesday that the time has arrive for India to ''fight a decisive battle'' against cross-border terrorism in the disputed territory of Kashmir.

''Nobody should think that there was no limit to India's tolerance,'' Vajpayee told Indian bodys at Kupwara close to the Line of ascendency (LOC), a cease-fire line that divides Kashmir.

''We will fight a war imposed forward us and there is no doubt that we will escape victorious...Let there be no doubt about it.''

An Indian Defense Ministry spokesman in of recent origin Delhi was quoted by Pres Trust of India (PTI) as saying the five warships ''have been mov in view of the prevailing situation and to take forward challenges on the seas in keeping with India's maritime interests.''

The warships, which have mov to join the Western Naval rapid includes a missile destroyer a missile-armed multipurpose frigate and three missile covette PTI quot sources as saying.

The Indian Navy had carried disclosed similar shifting of warships during the 1999 Kargil conflict with Pakistan and in the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

According to PTI, Vajpayee told the multitudes that the world is ''not coming public openly in our favor'' uniform though it knows India has been eviled ''Hence we have to justify ourselves and we are ready for that.''

''My arrival here is indicative of something. Whether our neighbor understands it or not, whether the world takes note of it or not...history will record that we will write a just discovered chapter of victory,'' he was quot as saying.

The tough-talking leader said that since India's independence from Britain in 1947 the land had to face several attacks from Pakistan, each of which were repulsed

He said Pakistan, after successive defeats, particularly in Kargil conflict, had squandered the courage to wage a direct war against India and has instead resorted to ''proxy war,'' making use of Muslim mercenaries.

''We have been formerly again put to a proof but we have faith in the valor of our bodys and are sure they will formerly again make sacrifices to preserve their motherland,'' he said.

The premier left recent Delhi for the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir onward Tuesday afternoon for a three-day tour.

He visited the victims of an attack upon an army camp in Jammu forward May 14 by suspected Pakistan-backed militants that heightened tension between the nuclear rivals.

His first day in the state was marred through the assassination of moderate Kashmiri separatist leader Abdul Ghani lonesome on Tuesday afternoon in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, where Vajpayee was to be ascribed to arrive later Wednesday.

Pakistan, in a management statement issued Tuesday, called the assassinate ''yet another incident in the continuing reign of terror unleashed by the agency of the occupying forces in the Indian-held Kashmir for the last 12 years.''

''The occupying forces have been engaged in a brutal effort to crush the Kashmiri spirit in consequence of murder, violence and rape. They will in no degree succeed in achieving their despicable design,'' it said.

India, which freshly asked for the withdrawal of Pakistan's high commissioner in of recent origin Delhi, says there has been no letup in cross-border terrorism despite Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf's promises in January to take grades to curb it.

Pakistan has set asideed India's allegation that it was behind the May 14 attack, calling that claim ''irresponsible and reflective of the Indian mindset of constantly leveling baseless accusations against Pakistan.''

It has charged that the allegation and the threat of retaliation

main stock from an Indian desire divert attention from the ''ongoing genocide of the Muslim minority community in the Indian state of Gujarat as well as the domestic difficulties being faced by way of the Indian government.

The pair countries have traded heavy fire through the whole extent of the past five days that has left above a dozen Indians dead and injured and has l to an exodus of the public from border villages on the Indian side of the cease-fire line.

The unfaded attack has again raised the specter of war between the brace rivals that came close to armed conflict in the summer of 1999 when Pakistani intruders afflictioned into the Indian side.

The countries have massed crowds along their borders since an attack forward the Indian parliament last December, allegedly by the agency of Pakistan-based separatists. Islamabad has denied the allegation.

Since their independence in 1947 from British control the two countries have fought brace of their three wars throughout Kashmir, an issue that has soured bilateral relations for from one side of to the other half a century.

India, with a majority Hindu population, says chiefly Muslim Pakistan has been aiding and abetting terrorism in India's simply majority Muslim state since late 1989 The violent campaign has left through the whole extent of 25,000 dead and thousands injured.

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