"No attack on Indian troops is possible without the support of the Pakistan Army," Antony said while addressing the Parliament.
NEW DELHI: Faced with relentless attack from the opposition and resentment within Congress for allegedly trying to play down the involvement of Pakistan army in the killing of five Indian soldiers, the UPA government did a somersault on Thursday. Defence minister AK Antony cited fresh information from Army chief Bikram Singh to blame the attack squarely on specialist troops of Pakitan Army, while vowing retaliation. He virtually declared that government will abort its plan for full-scale bilateral engagement with Pakistan.
The U-turn came in Parliament where Opposition had held up proceedings to protest against Antony's watered down first statement. On Thursday he pumped it up to declare: "It is now clear that the specialist troops of Pakistan Army were involed in the attack when a group from the PoK side crossed the LoC and killed our brave jawans. We all know that nothing happens from Pakistan side of the LoC without support, assistance facilitation and often, direct involvement of the Pakistan Army".
'Won't let attackers go unpunished'
Asserting that those behind the attack would not go unpunished and asking Pakistan to dismantle terrorist networks on its soil and for take action against the perpetrators of 26/11, Antony said: "Naturally, this incident will have consequences on our behaviour on LoC and for our relations with Pakistan. Our restraint should not be taken for granted; nor should the capacity of our armed forces and resolve of the government to uphold the sanctity of LoC ever be doubted".
The statement contrasted starkly with Antony's statement on Tuesday. "The ambush was carried by approximately 20 heavily armed terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms", the defence minister had said then, deviating from the statement his own ministry had issued earlier on Tuesday where it clearly mentioned the involvement of Pakistan Army in the attack.
Clearly on the defensive, Antony said that his earlier statement was based on the "information available" in the immediate wake of Pakistan Army's attack, as he attributed the change in government's stance to the details provided by the Army chief on Thursday.
Political circles were unanimous that the backpedalling was the result from an offensive by the BJP which alleged that the government had glossed over the involvement of Pakistan army in order to ensure that the killing of soldiers did not interfere with Manmohan Singh's plan to restore the composite dialogue process with Pakistan.
The reluctance to blame Pakistan Army whose domination of Pakistan side of LoC is total and which controls the terror groups targeting India has dismayed also the Congress leadership which worried about the fallout of the lapse for the coming elections.
Antony's defence that he did not have all the facts with him failed to wash with many even in the Congress. His tone on Tuesday, when he went into such precise detail as the attackers being dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms, had been just as definitive as it was on Thursday: something which was cited by many to suggest that Congress's discomfiture in the face of BJP's offensive could be the real reasons for the contrasting statements.
Significantly, the first statement had set off a blame game with both the PMO and the MEA leaving the defence ministry to fend for itself. On Wednesday, PMO issued a curious statement to scotch the " mischievous suggestion" that it had a role in diluting the defence ministry's statement about the involvement of Pakistan Army.
The disclaimer raised many eyebrows because PMO has always been seen as responsible for the conduct of foreign policy: a perception that it never seemed to resent so far.
The MEA also kept its safe distance from the controversy, bristling at the suggestion that it was involved in the exercise to water down the statement
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