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Pak. war games begin today

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 15. India will watch with interest the involvement of senior military officers of Pakistan's nuclear command and control organisation in the 10-day war games scheduled to begin at Rawalpindi tomorrow.

War games are confined to senior officers of the rank of Major Generals and above. They do not involve troops and are intended to test out certain doctrines. Pakistan's war games, "Sabut Kadam-II'' (Conclusive Steps), which are taking place when tensions between the countries are high, "should be watched closely to understand what war doctrines are being tested by Pakistan,'' said Defence Ministry sources here.

According to reports here, Maj. Gen. Salahuddin, Army Commander of the Strategic Force Command which possesses Islamabad's nuclear delivery systems and, possibly, the nuclear arsenal, is among the senior officers invited for the war games. His superior, the Director-General of Strategic Plans Division, Lt. Gen. Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, will also take part in the war games that are expected to be supervised by the Pakistan President and Chief of Army Staff, Pervez Musharraf.

Although officers of Pakistan's nuclear structure will take part in the games, the issue does not give rise to apprehension among Indian security planners. They would be more interested in knowing, if that can be managed, what kind of nuclear doctrines would be tried out by the Pakistan military.

Since war games of this kind take place at a theoretical level with no troop involvement, the matter was not considered significant enough to be raised at the weekly telephonic conversation between the Directors-General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two armies.

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