4 September 2000

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: For the first time, the Army Headquarters in New Delhi has been connected with a hotline to the Prime Minister's residence at 7 Race Course to prevent any loss of time in Atal Bihari Vajpayee taking a decision in the event of an aggression or any other nefarious act by Pakistan.

The Prime Minister has a hotline to his residence wherever he may be, whether in any part of India or abroad, and as such Vajpayee would now have live contact with the Army Headquarters even while in the United States.

No official explanation was forthcoming about linking the Army Headquarters with his residence to an extent that a senior official affirmed that such questions should not be asked.

Sources, however, said one reason for wiring up the PM's residence with the Army headquarters can be that Vajpayee does not want to take a chance as the enemy was capable of doing any mischief during his absence from India.

All civil and military authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have been already put on alert about the possibility of any kind of trouble flaring up during Vajpayee's US trip that begins on Thursday.

The Prime Minister is kept posted with all developments in India whenever he travels abroad but the new arrangement has been provided to make him available to the Defence Forces round-the-clock.

The hotline network that has been put in place would continue even after Vajpayee's foreign trip as it was felt that the Army chief should have an instant access to the Prime Minister whenever he feels any urgency instead of the time wasted in securing an appointment through the regular channels of the Prime Minister's Office, the sources said. The necessity of such an arrangement was felt after the Kargil episode, the sources added. END