The babel of voices on J&K.

Byline: Mohua Chatterjee

There is utter confusion on important issues - with Union ministers expressing contradictory views - within the Vajpayee government and the bureaucracy doesn't know what to go by. What is the goverment's stand on the issues?

Infiltration: Defence minister George Fernandes on June 19 said, there has been ''considerable drop'' in infiltration along the LoC. On June 20, he repeated the message in Srinagar, ''infiltration of militants from Pakistan had almost stopped, and whatever little infiltration is still there will also end.''

But on June 18, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said in an interview, ''everyday we are getting reports that infiltration continues unabated ....''

Home minister L K Advani, on June 16 said, in Ahmedabad ''contrary to claims by the international community, there has been no reduction in cross border terrorism.'' The MEA acknowledged on June 20, ''there's been decline in infiltration.''

While Army chief S Padmanabhan said infiltration has dropped considerably, the same day as Fernandes. On June 13, 16 Corps commander JBS Yadav, said, "Infiltration has not dropped and that the Pakistani Army is continuing to make way for infiltrators.

Joint Patrolling: Prime Minister Vajpayee broached the subject on June 5 in Almat. He suggested the possibility of an Indo-Pakistan joint patrolling of the Line of Control (LoC) to check infiltration.