The Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes said that India’s nuclear capability is essentially deterrent and we are aware of our responsibility that it is not misused.

Speaking on the eve of Kargil Vijay Diwas, Mr Fernandes said that during the Kargil aggression by Pakistan, India was taken by surprise because from 1972 onwards there had been an unwritten understanding between India and Pakistan to maintain peace in the area. He regretted that Pakistan had broken the trust.

The Minister said that Kargil misadventure by Pakistan would not be repeated as Islamabad was now aware that India was fully prepared to give a decisive and befitting reply.

Mr Fernandes played down the allegations of intelligence failure on the part of Indian agencies during the Kargil war and asserted that the forces responded promptly after knowing about the aggression. The total modernisation of the Army was a difficult and long drawn job. During the last eight years virtually no expenditure was incurred on defence and improving our defence capabilities, he added. Only during the last three budgets, substantial defence allocation was made.

Mr Fernandes noted that during the last one year, militancy on India’s northern borders had been contained and the security forces had achieved perceptible success. At the same time he was aware that Pakistan continued to infiltrate militants from across the border waging a proxy war against India.

Reacting to the Hizbul Mujahideen offer for negotiations and peace, Mr Fernandes called it "a positive sign" and claimed that the people in the valley had by now been disillusioned with Islamabad’s policy of engineering disturbances in the area. During last two decades, Kashmiris had suffered immensely because of militancy. He believed that the time had come for Pakistan to realise that the two countries had to live like good neighbours.