NEW DELHI, JULY 23: The core group, drawn from the National Security Advisory Board, which has been advising the Government on the Kargil conflict, has warned against complacency, pointing out that the crisis is far from over.It has asked the Government to be extra vigilant as Pakistan can be expected to turn on the heat on three fronts - diplomatic, anti-India propaganda building up to the United Nations General Assembly in September and a resumption of the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir.The group has stressed that the proxy war may not be limited to traditional sectors in Jammu and the Kashmir Valley but could even touch areas like Ladakh which have so far been spared from terrorist violence.Given its assessment that the months ahead are as critical as the last two months of military conflict, the group is believed to have expressed concern at the attempts to grab political mileage during this sensitive and crucial period. The members are believed to have advised against drumbeating and the desireto score debating points in the runup to the elections.The claim by Defence Minister George Fernandes that the war is over, for instance, is totally at variance with the situation on the ground where heavy shelling continues and India and Pakistan are locked in squabbles over the delineation of the Line of Control. Such claims can only weaken India's negotiating position in the weeks to come, the group argues.The group has, as its members, former foreign secretary J N Dixit, former principal secretary N N Vohra, defence analyst K Subrahmanyam, ex Air Chief Marshal S K Mehra and retired Major General Afzal Karim.It has been meeting thrice a week since the conflict began and submitting assessment reports to the Government based on inputs from intelligence and other confidential documents. One of the three meetings every week is with the Prime Minister's principal secretary, Brajesh Mishra, who as National Security Advisor, has been overseeing Operation Vijay and the ongoing diplomatic efforts tode-escalate the conflict.Ironically, the Board itself was virtually bypassed when the crunch came. Although it was already in place, the Government apparently felt that it was too unwieldy and large for regular and urgent war-time consultations. It was also deemed unwise to allow such a big body access to the kind of confidential information needed to properly assess the developments along the Line of Control and suggest options to the Government.The full Board met to discuss the Kargil crisis with government leaders only once, on June 8, well after the air strikes began. A spokesman claimed it has been meeting once a month since then to review the situation along the LoC but these have been in-house meetings.The reports on which the Government based its decisions came from the core group, submitted to Mishra through Satish Chandra who heads the National Security Council Secretariat.Although the role of the group is essentially advisory, its members have also been sent abroad as special emissariesto drum up international support for India's case.
