The LoC is not vague or undefined as claimed by Pakistani spokesmen, noris it governed by the Lahore or Shimla declarations. It was delineated bythe Cease Fire Line at the UN-sponsored Karachi Agreement as long back asJuly 1949, says B G VERGHESEPakistan has mounted an invasion of Jammu & Kashmir in the Drass-Kargilsector. This is no mere infiltration across the Line of Control but along-planned but desperate move to take control of the territory, furtherthreatening our line of communications to Ladakh and Siachen.The Indian Air Force and the Army are seized of the situation and there isno doubt about the outcome. The Pakistan regulars, irregulars and foreignmercenaries, will be driven out with heavy losses. That message will gohome, though India, too, has and will very regrettably take casualties inthe process.There is, however, a larger issue of policy, information and diplomacy whichIndia has loved to lose for decades and seems intent on doing so again. Thefault is at all levels and none can escape blame: the political leadership,bureaucracy, academia and the media.A Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman is reported to have described the LoC asbeing ``vague and undefined''. The statement is suggestive of ambiguityabout who might be on the wrong side of the line and therefore guilty ofprovocation, escalation or aggression.At worst, it might be a case of innocent Pakistani trespass in an unchartedarea of a ``disputed'' state. At the same time, India is charged withdropping ``bombs'' on ``our territory''. This heads-I-win-tails-you-losedouble-talk provides the basis for advocating ground verification by the UNthrough UNMIGOP. Very plausible. Totally wrong.The LoC is not defined by the Lahore or Shimla declarations but, at root, bythe UN-sponsored Karachi Agreement of July 29, 1949, which delineated theCease Fire Line (CFL) from the Jammu-Sialkot sector in the south to theinternational border with Sinjiang to the north.It was described and demarcated sector by sector along named features andhigh points, with grid coordinates going to the fourth decimal point, andwas signed by the Indian and Pakistan military commanders as well as by thethen UN Military Observer Group.There was and is no ground for ambiguity in the Kargil sector as the Line isfor the most part well above the zone of habitation and vegetation whichprecludes the presence of villagers, pilgrims, travellers and tourists orherdsmen searching for alpine pastures with the melting of the snow. Onlythe military could be there. And both sides know where the Line runs.Indeed, the CFL was delineated and then demarcated with reference to the``factual position'' specifically to preclude any non-man's land. In theterminal Siachen sector, the Line is delineated as running up to gridcoordinate NJ 9842 and``thence north to the glaciers''. This last segmentwas left for subsequent demarcation which was not done (presumably becauseof the extreme inhospitality of the terrain).However, the CFL in this sector did not disappear and was never abolished.Even a schoolboy can draw a line due north from NJ 9842 to wheresoever itmeets the international boundary. And that clearly places Siachen on theIndian side of the Line.Pakistan sought to assume jurisdiction over the Siachen area by sanctioningnternational mountaineering expeditions for some years while preparing toestablish de facto control. The Indian Army preempted this by occupying theglacier and the flanking ridge in 1984.The CFL was restored to the 1949 position after the 1965 war as a result ofthe Tashkent Agreement, with both sides surrendering their military gains inJ&K. The 1971 conflict saw Indian advances in the Kargil-Siachen sector.This time, it was agreed that each side would retain what it controlled. TheCFL with these adjustments thus became the LoC.Pakistan should not be allowed to do a Siachen in Kargil. But it will beenabled to do so if India is unable even to define the LoC, as it hascompletely failed to do in Siachen, and is in some danger of doing inKargil. The post-Independence history of Jammu & Kashmir is so old andcomplex that Indian policy-makers have tired of speaking of it and have bynow virtually forgotten its origins.Not so Pakistan, which has incrementally defined the geography, history,ethnography, culture and issues in contention to its advantage. It has setthe Kashmir agenda and the terms of discourses, both of which the world hasadopted because India itself astonishingly has done so. Pakistan acts; Indiaresponds.There is, for example, little knowledge and even less understanding of``Azad'' Kashmir and the Northern Areas on the other side of the LoC and howthese impact on the Kashmir question.By sheer fault, American ADIZ (Air Defence Identification Zone) maps,prepared for purposes of civil and military air traffic control, have beenwidely adopted by international cartographers and governments to define thealignment of the northern (Siachen) segment of the LOC. This join NJ 9842to the Karakoram Pass, which suggests that India is the aggressor in Siachenand in adverse possession of some 500 sq kms.The military operations are being carefully controlled and sensibly limitedto clearing the intruders from our side of the LoC and no more, whatever theprovocation or taunts. Nor should we veer away from the Simla-Lahoreframework or dialogue. These talks must be vigorously and sincerely pursued.It is Pakistan that will find itself in growing disarray and tied up inknots as its deceptions, extreme rhetoric and military adventurism begin tounravel. Pursuing the autonomy package in Jammu & Kashmir as solemnlypromised, holding panchayat elections to genuinely empowered urban and rurallocal bodies (with due amendments to the present statute), and inviting thewidest participation in all of these exercises not excluding those in theHurriyat looking for an exit is the path to follow.This is a national issue that does not admit of partisan politics for pettyelectoral gain. Nor need there be recrimination about how the Kargil sectorwas ``allowed'' to be penetrated in some depth. The disaster brought on by``not-an-inch-of-territory'' armchair strategists on an earlier occasionshould not be allowed to be repeated.There are many lines to be drawn at Kargil.
