Pioneer News Service/New Delhi
The Pioneer
June 6, 1999
Title: Safe passage row was mediaís creation: PM Author: Pioneer News Service/New Delhi Publication: The Pioneer Date: June 6, 1999 Describing the situation at Kargil as ìstill seriousî, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Saturday said the Government is initiating steps to counter the Pakistani offensive. Talking to newspersonsí delegation at his residence in the morning, Mr Vajpayee said much of the media reporting was not accurate and urged members of the fourth estate to consider the impact their writings had on the jawansí morale. He said that according to reports Pakistan may increase forces along the Line of Control(LoC). Mr Vajpayee said that bodies of Pakistani soldiers recovered from the Batalik sub-sectors substantiated the fact that Pakistan Army regulars are fighting in Kargil. The Prime Minister sought to clear the controversy created over the reported statement of Defence Minister George Fernandes on safe passage to intruders in Kargil. The whole idea of a safe passage to foreign mercenaries was a scribes brain-child, Mr Vajpayee said, adding that neither the Defence Minister not he himself issued a statement like that. A journalist merely asked Mr Fernandes if the Government was considering any safe passage, to which the Defence Minister had replied that there was no proposal of the kind and if anything comes up the Government will look into it, the Prime Minister clarified. Refuting the statement attributed to him on the matter when he was in Mumbai, Mr Vajpayee urged the media to exercise restraint in reporting anything which may adversely affect the moral of the troops fighting on the borders. Admitting lapses on part of the Government on the Kargil developments, Mr Vajpayee said his Government failed to convince the people on the seriousness of the Kargil situation. Recalling his earlier statement that a war-like situation persists at the border, the Prime Minister said what is happening at the border is very serious. He said India has captured three bodies of Pakistani regulars which the other side refuses to acknowledge. We have shown the papers recovered from these soldiers to the Director-General Military Operations of Pakistan but he has refused to accept the fact, Mr Vajpayee said.
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