In a special report, the Time magazine that hit the stands today clearly establishes that ``the presence of Pakistani soldiers deep in enemy territory disproves Islamabad's claims of innocence.''

Through the story of a Pakistani soldier who fought in Kargil and accounts of senior officers and locals, the report has established beyond doubt that the enemy Indian soldiers are fighting in Kargil are their counterparts from the Pakistan Army.

The report states: ``As far back as last November, the first batch of Pakistani troops from the Northern Light Infantry Regiment and Khyber Rifles military units experienced in mountain warfare crept over the 3,500-metre highpasses along the LoC to occupy the high ridges held in the summer by the Indian Army. To avoid raising suspicion, even among the local Pakistanis, they went without weapons. Their task was to build new bunkers on the ridges, but as far as possible from the empty Indian positions that would be unsafe because they are marked on the Indian maps. Pakistan was stretching the LoC to its advantage.''

Time reporter Ghulam Hasnain and photographer Robert Nickelsberg travelled along the Pakistan side of the LoC. And everywhere they went, they found Pakistani Army regulars.

Their report states: ``Men from Northern Light Infantry and the Khyber Rifles were used because of their high-altitude experience and because they are from the region. They were encouraged to look like mujahideen and they discarded their uniforms for traditional salwar-kameez or tracksuits, grew beards and wore the traditional white religious skull caps. The soldiers say that when they reached the heights in February, some genuine mujahideen wereat the abandoned Indian positions. But these men left after a few days because they could not survive in the high altitudes. They are now used for reconnaissance and as porters.''

Near Kargil, reporter Michael Fathers and photographer Marcus Oleniuk saw Pakistani soldiers assemble a Chinese-made 57-mm anti-aircraft gun inside a man-made cave protected by steel girders and concrete. ``It sits on top of a 3,000-metre high ridge that overlooks a 500-metre stretch of the Kargil road... The weapon has scattered convoys and made Indian troop deployments hazardous. Bombs and shells fired by the Indians have failed to penetrate the cave,'' they report.

Reporting from both sides of the LoC, the Time magazine reporters say that ``most of the fighting is close-quarter combat, with bayonets fixed and rifles fired straight from the hip.'' From the Indian side, Fathers writes: ``the intruders are first softened up with round-the-clock Indian artillery bombardment and air attacks. The units on the mountain side inchtheir way forward at night, often covering as little as 100 metres.''

Quoting a Pakistani soldier who spent 77 days in Indian territory near Kargil, the magazine reports: ``In February I was ordered to cross the LoC and climb some mountains that the Indians controlled. My commanding officers would not allow me to take my AK-47 rifle. I was going to an Indian hill without a weapon, but I saw that everybody who was being sent across the LoC was going there empty-handed.''

The soldier told the Time reporter that it took him and his fellow soldiers ``three days of walking and climbing'' to reach the Indian posts near Kargil where they were instructed to ``prepare makeshift bunkers''.

Going on to describe the fighting conditions at the icy heights, the soldier told the reporter that the casualties on their side was high and survival was difficult. According to the soldier, for the first five days military helicopters with food supplies didn't come. The soldiers apparently survived on energy tablets, ice andsugar.

``We also suffered a lot of casualties, much more than what the officials in Pakistan are claiming. During my stay up there, 17 of my friends died while fighting the Indians,'' the report quotes him as saying.

On survival, he says: ``There is so much exchange of fire that you cannot even eat the ice now or drink the water, which is laced with cordite. Even the streams down below the mountains are contaminated. Lots of soldiers are facing stomach problems because of this. We had no proper bunkers, so we dug a 5-metre tunnel into the snow. When the Indian shells started landing on us, we would crawl into this tunnel for safety. You don't get enough space to spread your legs in the tents. You always sleep sitting up. Sometimes there is so much firing, you cannot relieve yourself even if you want to.''

According to the report, the men going up the mountains know that they will probably not come down alive. At a base camp in Skardu, 150 km from the frontline, phone-booth attendant Yawar Shah told thereporter that he has seen men weep when they call home to bid goodbye to their families. ``You can see them crying in the cubicles,'' Shah is quoted as saying. ``It is very sad.''

The conflict seems to have created a divide between the men fighting on the border and their superiors. Officers spoke to the Time reporter about the ``futility and danger of a war that their government denies they are taking part in''.

``None of us wants war with India,'' a Pakistani officer was quoted as saying. ``It is very damaging for Pakistan economically, and we feel it will be difficult to sustain.''