NEW DELHI, 25 May — The government yesterday denied a media report suggesting it had given Pakistan two months to rein in militants before deciding whether or not to go to war.

The Hindustan Times quoted unidentified government sources as saying Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s “decision to begin a war against Pakistan would depend on how it acted in the next two months.” It added the “war option would be closed” if there were no violent disruptions to Kashmir Assembly elections due late in the year.

“India’s Cabinet Committee on security endorsed the decision to give Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf more time to implement his promise of putting an end to the infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir,” the daily said. The newspaper gave no details of its sources. However, a Defense Ministry spokesman denied any such deadline had been set.

“(The report) is very speculative,” the spokesman said. “Whatever decision was taken was announced by the prime minister in Kashmir on Thursday. This report appears to be speculative.” India and Pakistan have mobilized nearly a million troops along their borders after an attack on India’s parliament last December, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants fighting its rule in the Himalayan state of Kashmir.

Tensions have intensified since an attack last week by militants on a bus and army camp near Jammu in southern Kashmir in which 35 people were killed, with India taking a number of military and political steps analysts believe are a prelude to war.

Among these is increased shelling of Pakistani positions along the frontier and the line of control (LoC), according to another daily, the Times of India. The Times of India, also quoting unidentified officials, said yesterday Indian soldiers had begun “aggressive patrolling” along the frontier.

“The idea is to raise the costs to the terrorists crossing the line of control and to those who support them,” one official was quoted as saying. The fighting has triggered an exodus of residents from border areas, with official estimates suggesting that 30,000 to 40,000 people have fled the latest barrage to camps across Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan sending militants into Kashmir.

Proper plan needed: Sonia

The main opposition Congress party president Sonia Gandhi yesterday slammed the government for not having a “comprehensive plan” in place to fight cross-border militancy from Pakistan in Kashmir.

Sonia told a meeting of her All India Congress Committee (AICC) that the Congress would back the government during its current crisis with archrival Pakistan, but accused it of not having a “clear-cut strategy” in place.

Addressing a day-long special session of the party at Talkatora stadium here yesterday, Sonia said, “Though we have fundamental and unbridgable differences with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on social, political and economic issues, but we want the world to realize that we are one in countering Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

“We will continue to extend our support to the government in its fight against terrorism and in restoring peace in Jammu and Kashmir.”

“However, the government must have a comprehensive plan and well-thought out clear-cut strategy to deal with terrorism keeping in mind the ground realities.” She asked the government to act responsibly, reach out to the international community and formulate a strategy which would stand the test of time.

Sonia added: “We are disappointed ...We have yet to see any such planning in the government’s strategy to fight terror. There has been no drop in the incidents of terror from across the border.”

“We should use different means to tell Pakistan that we will not tolerate cross-border terrorism anymore,” she said, adding that if war was not an option for India then it should initiate “formal or informal dialogue” with its nuclear-armed rival.