We lost a plane, admits India

Pakistan military is defiant after air force fighters bring down unmanned enemy spy drone.

India last night grudgingly conceded that Pakistani aircraft had shot down one of its spy-planes after it strayed into enemy territory but tried to play down the incident, as officials hinted at fresh moves to reduce tension withPakistan.

An Indian spokesman confirmed that the smouldering remains discovered in a field of sugarcane close to the Pakistani city of Lahore were those of an unmanned Indian drone that had 'disappeared'.

Military officials in Islamabad said Pakistani air force jets shot the plane down at 11pm on Friday night after spotting it on their radar screens.

As intense international efforts continued to try to scale down tensions between the two nuclear rivals, Pakistan's outgoing Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar yesterday described the incident as an 'aggravation' and said his country was trying to 'exercise restraint and responsibility'. He said: 'Responsible states must exercise the utmost care to ensure that no provocation be made that might lead to escalation.'

But Pakistan's top military spokesman Major General Rashid Quereshi bluntly warned that any Indian aircraft that tried to attack Pakistan would also be swiftly shot down.

'Pakistan's determination to defend every inch of its land and airspace has been proved. [The] humiliation that India must have suffered in losing its aircraft should convey to the Indian leadership that the Pakistani armed forces have the capability of countering any sort of aggression that India may launch.'

The embarrassing episode for India comes amid distinct signs that Western diplomatic efforts to avert the threat of war on the subcontinent are finally paying off. During a trip to New Delhi on Friday, the US Deputy Secre tary of State, Richard Armitage, relayed assurances from Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, that 'cross-border terrorism' into India had 'permanently' ceased.

India has previously cast doubt on Musharraf's promises - and has pointed out that he said the same thing in January but failed to deliver. But India now appears to have accepted that militant infiltration across the disputed 'line of control' in Kashmir had dropped off, its critical demand.

Indian sources last night indicated that New Delhi was preparing to announce several goodwill gestures in the next 48 hours aimed at reducing tensions with Pakistan.

They are likely to include the upgrading of diplomatic ties with Islamabad and the possible restoration of road, air and rail links. New Delhi is also likely to recall five warships sent to Pakistan's coast at the height of the crisis.

But military officials have made clear there is no plan to shift any of India's troops from the border, where a million men have been dug in on both sides since January.

The Indian overture has been timed to regain the PR initiative ahead of a visit by the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who arrives in the region in the middle of the week. But yesterday's spy-plane standoff is a pointed reminder that the situation between the two countries is still volatile - and that another incident could steer them back towards conflict.

The threat remains that renegade militant groups opposed to Musharraf's apparent U-turn over Kashmir could try to wreck peace moves with another spectacular attack.

Local journalists were yesterday escorted to the scene in the village of Dogran Kalan, 25 miles from Lahore, where the wreckage of the drone lay, still smouldering. Not much was left, but officials showed off the camera they said had been on board. 'The charred skeleton of the Indian plane is lying in a sugarcane field,' villager Mohamed Yaqub said.

The plane was part of a batch of Israeli-made Searcher and Hunter aircraft bought by India four years ago. It had penetrated only 20 miles into Pakistani territory before it was shot down.

Indian air force spokesman R.K. Dhingra yesterday said both sides used drones as a 'routine feature'.