WASHINGTON: Indian Prime Minister Shastri has warned that India would `strike back at Pakistan` if Pakistani `aggression` continued in Kashmir. In an interview to the `New York Times` in New Delhi he has openly hinted at a general war with Pakistan. Mr Shastri said, `We will have to carry the fight to the other side.` He believed that India and Pakistan were closer to war now than at any time since the partition.

Mr Shastri`s sabre-rattling interview was given prominent display by the `New York Times` yesterday [Aug 22]. In another report the `New York Times` correspondent in India said that the Indian Army `is said to be aching for a chance to show what it can do. In the Cabinet there is said to be support for giving the soldiers a free rein`.

The `Times` reported, however, that `India`s economy is lagging badly and the foreign exchange shortage is acute`. Indian officials realised that war would mean virtually shelving the country`s development programme for the duration.

While Indian jingoists threaten Pakistan of an all-out war her inability to feed her own population is pathetically summed up in this banner headline in the `Washington Post` `India trembling near brink of famine`. Correspondent