Quake 'left 2,500 Pakistani soldiers dead'
Almost a month after the earthquake disaster that still cripples much of Pakistan, it has emerged that the Pakistan Army also suffered heavy losses.
The army not only lost huge numbers of soldiers and officers posted in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, its command and control infrastructures were also destroyed by the quake, Indian army intelligence sources said.
New Delhi-based sources in the Indian army told the Indian daily Asian Age that the earthquake killed about 2,500 Pakistani soldiers, including at least three brigadiers, 10 to 16 battalion commanders and a large number of junior officers.
The quake, which inflicted heavy losses to at least four brigades of the Muzaffarabad-based 12 Division Army posted on the Line of Control, also resulted in the destruction of several artillery positions, the formidable air defence installations and almost the entire communication infrastructure of the army, an unnamed source told the Indian daily.
Indian army intelligence sources who have based their information mostly on radio intercepts following the October 8 earthquake said that Punjab, Baloch, Frontier Force and Northern Light Infantry were among the battalions that lost their commanding officers.
After the disaster, Pakistan worried that India would immediately know the extent of its military damage and a panicking President General Pervez Musharraf rushed massive reinforcements to the area, and proposed demilitarisation of the region, said a senior Indian army officer.
'The army's unprecedented losses created a heightened sense of vulnerability in the Pakistani military establishment. General Musharraf's vehement refusal, declining all military-oriented aid from India was one such manifestation of his insecurity,' he said.
Analysts estimate it would take at least three years for Pakistan to rebuild its infrastructure in the quake-hit Pakistani Kashmir. Following a December 2001 terrorist attack on India's parliament, the two countries massed over a million troops on the Kashmir border amid mounting fear of war. Although the tensions eased and a peace process was initiated, Pakistan did not demobilise its 400,000 troops at the epicentre of the earthquake.
Pakistan and India yesterday opened a second crossing on the Line of Control, exchanging almost identical batches of relief goods.
Pakistan says it is ready to open all five, but India holds that will take several more days and paperwork. No survivors of the quake have yet been allowed to cross.
