India to Install Sensors on Kashmir Border

June 14, 2002

NEW DELHI, June 14 (UPI) -- India Friday agreed to a U.S. proposal to install electronic sensors along the Kashmir border to check infiltration by armed Islamic rebels.

India's Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security in New Delhi the defense ministry would work out the modalities with U.S. authorities of how and where to install the sensors.

Singh ruled out, however, deployment of foreign troops along the line of control that separates Kashmir and neighboring Pakistan.

"There is no proposal for any forces other than the Indian forces to be on the (line of control)," Singh said.

The United States offered to supply sensors during Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's visit to the Indian capital on Wednesday. It has been attempting to broker peace between India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers which have been embroiled in a six-month-old military standoff.

India blames Pakistan-based Islamic rebel groups for terrorist attacks. New Delhi alleges Islamabad is arming and training rebels fighting for independence of Kashmir, a charge Pakistan denies.

The sensors to be placed along the 450-mile Kashmir border are based entirely on American technology and would be physically installed near the line of control.

Both nations claim Kashmir and have fought two wars over the Himalayan region during the past 55 years.

More than a million troops currently are positioned along the India-Pakistan shared border.
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