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Posted on 05/21/2002 5:52:41 PM PDT by blam
May 22, 2002
Nuclear war threat over Kashmir crisis
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor
Straw mission over 'very real' chance of India-Pakistan conflict
BRITAIN gave warning of the “very real and very disturbing” possibility of nuclear war between India and Pakistan last night as the Government prepared an emergency mission to Delhi and Islamabad. Jack Straw is to fly to the capitals next week to try to avert “the most serious conflict in the world in terms of potential casualties and the use of nuclear weapons”.
In a chilling assessment of the escalating tensions in the sub-continent, the Foreign Secretary told journalists: “The international community is watching events with mounting concern. This is a crisis the world cannot ignore.”
Ministers believe the situation is now so tense that just one provocation could trigger catastrophe, and the murder of a prominent Muslim leader yesterday plunged the region even deeper into trouble. A million soldiers are assembled along the India-Pakistan border, most of them concentrated in the disputed region of Kashmir, where fresh clashes were reported yesterday.
Mr Straw’s mission will be closely co-ordinated with separate efforts by the US and EU and was agreed after dire warnings this week from military intelligence.
According to senior Whitehall sources, one plausible doomsday scenario presented to ministers envisaged the two sides fighting a bloody war that would lead to the first use of atomic weapons since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In response to a terrorist attack, Indian troops would retalitate against Pakistan. The Pakistanis, who are considered better troops, would beat off the initial offensive. But the Indians would then use their superiority in conventional forces to overwhelm the Pakistanis. In turn Islamabad would use its weapon of last resort: a nuclear device. India would survive the strike and hit back with its own atomic weapons.
Were this scenario acted out, millions would die. India is believed to have about 60 nuclear warheads compared with Pakistan’s 25.
Yesterday the region remained “on a trigger”. George Fernandes, the Indian Defence Minister, told troops on a frontline position in Rajasthan that India had to give a “strong reply” to last week’s killing of 34 people by Islamic militants near Jammu. Pakistan responded with a blunt warning of its own. Major General Rashid Qureshi, the government spokesman said: “Any incursions into Pakistani territory or Azad (Pakistani-controlled) Kashmir will be responded to and met with full force.”
In the Kashmir capital of Srinagar, gunmen killed Abdul Ghani Lone, a Muslim leader who wanted to achieve independence through peaceful means. Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, said he was saddened and angered by the killing. “This was a terrorist act designed to undermine the hopes of the Kashmiri people for free and fair elections without violence.”
Mr Straw’s first priority will be to ease India’s anger, in the aftermath of the latest massacre, and urge the Hindu nationlist Government to exercise maximum restraint.
He will tell Pakistan that it must do more to rein in terror groups responsible for cross-border attacks into India and a wave of violence against Western targets, including the killing of French naval workers in Karachi, the murder of an American journalist and threats against British interests in Lahore.
Unlike the Middle East, however, where Britain supports the return of dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians for the creation of a Palestinian state, Mr Straw will have to tread gingerly around the issue of Kashmir’s status. India has consistently refused to discuss the region’s sovereignty.
On a more practical level, Mr Straw and British diplomats are expected to try to build security ties between Islamabad and Delhi that would prevent the two accidentally going to war.
During the Cold War, for instance, the White House and the Kremlin were connected by a “hotline” to allow the two superpower leaders to speak directly and avoid misunderstandings. “There are always grave dangers of what started off as a limited military action getting out of control,” Mr Straw said.
His visit next week will follow a similar mission by Chris Patten, the EU’s External Affairs Commissioner, and then by Richard Armitage, the US Deputy Secretary of State.
The diplomatic offensive is seen as critical before the Indian Government decides how to respond to last week’s massacre.“It is very important that we keep the foreign pressure on the two sides at this critical point,” said a senior British diplomat. “The forces are mobilised. With a click of the finger they could go.”
British diplomats close Pakistan offices
By Ahmed Rashid in Lahore
(Filed: 22/05/2002)
The Telegraph
Two British diplomatic and cultural offices in Pakistan have been closed to the public because of the growing terrorist threat from al-Qa'eda and its Pakistani allies, the Foreign Office confirmed last night.
France and America have reduced their diplomatic staff in Pakistan and Britain might have to adopt similar measures. America has said communications among al-Qa'eda suspects have been more intense recently, indicating more possible terrorist attacks.
European diplomats in Pakistan said there had been specific threats of suicide attacks against the British Council in Islamabad and the deputy High Commission in Lahore, which serves as a visa office.
The Foreign Office said both had been closed to the public because of "the security situation".
The killing of 11 French marine engineers and four others in a suicide bombing in Karachi earlier this month, the latest in a series of attacks on foreigners in Pakistan, has forced an urgent review of security measures for British staff.
The Foreign Office said: "There have been a number of threats against British interests in Pakistan. We keep the security situation under constant review. It's something we take very seriously."
(no mention that they could be concerned about a nuclear war.)
Don't worry. This is the last Straw.
Kashmir Kashmir just the beginning in jihadis' vision of war (this is a chilling read)
I'm amazed that the mass media doesn't cover these issues. Heck, Osama says he wants to create two worlds. I guess listening to what he actually says doesn't jibe with the storyline that America is the victim of its own evils.
Good read. Thanks for the link.
RED ALERT!
SHIELDS UP!
LOCK Phasers on target!
AND LOAD Photon Torpedoes!
Plus we won't have to bother asking Musharif's permission to go after the terrorists hiding in west pakistan. Talk about being caught bewteen the anvil and hammer!
Plus we won't have to bother asking Musharif's permission to go after the terrorists hiding in west pakistan. Talk about being caught bewteen the anvil and hammer!
Wherever he is, We should sometime soon, liberate the pakistani nuclear arsenal. We should know exactly where and when those things are. Then the whole nuclear thing goes away, India's military gets its conventional war, the diplomats get to attend a lot of important meetings in great places,the subcontinent goes off the media radar and one headache in the war on terror has been eliminated. .
It's a good thing now, in hindsight that Ashleigh Banfield is not reporting from kashmir. TV these days brings about a moral leveling of violence - It's all bad. The motives and circumstances are forgotten, whether it was fanatical or the result of a pragmatic mindset to preserve the general welfare and safety of a nation's citizens when attacked indiscriminately
The Middle East, Sudan, Algeria, India/Pakistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Phillipines, Nigeria, Indonesia.
Fomenting violence has become the badge of honor which the fervent young Muslim must wear on his sleeve. The radical element is doing its utmost to bring about a conflagration, for which Allah will bless them mightily.
As in the past, maybe it will take some sort of holocaust to bring these fools to their senses. They are a living embodiment of the saying that "history has taught us nothing."
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