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US wants Pak to withdraw: India

India today asserted that the United States has asked Pakistan to undo the intrusion in the Kargil sector by Pakistani army regulars and other militants.

''There is every reason to believe that the United States is part of the international consensus which is asking Pakistan, indeed demanding of Pakistan, that this foolhardy enterprise should be folded up,'' an External Affairs Ministry spokesman told reporters in New Delhi.

He was refuting a Pakistan foreign office claim that the US had not sought withdrawal of the Pakistani army regulars from occupied areas.

The ''international community knows and accepts that Pakistan is engaged in army intrusion. It is also clear that the international community including major countries have asked Pakistan that this armed intrusion and aggression should end,'' he said.

In reply to another question, the spokesman said there was no question of India accepting diktats from any country for resolving the Kargil situation.

''India never accepts any diktats. It does not conduct its foreign policy on that basis.''

It was also an ''incontrovertible'' fact that Pakistan was engaged in sponsoring terrorism in India, including Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East, for over ten years.

Referring to another Pakistani claim that the Line of Control had no international recognition, he said the LoC was a well-defined, well-settled delineated line flowing from the Simla Agreement.

''Simla Agreement is the very corner stone of India-Pakistan relations. The LoC's sanctity is basic and fundamental for the maintenance of peace and security between India and Pakistan. Therefore to claim otherwise is simply wrong.''

UNI

The Kargil Crisis

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