Posted on 05/22/2002 4:38:08 PM PDT by Dog Gone
WASHINGTON (AP) -- With India and Pakistan on war footing, a worried U.S. State Department appealed for an end to shelling in Kashmir and asked Pakistan to curb the influx of Islamic militants into the contested territory.
Europe-bound with President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to coordinate policy.
Powell is sending his deputy, Richard Armitage, to the region shortly to confer with Indian and Pakistani leaders and Straw is due there next week.
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, also traveling with Bush, telephoned her Indian and Pakistani counterparts to urge calm.
A senior State Department official said the United States was holding intensive talks with both sides in an effort to defuse tensions, but declined to reveal the details of the attempt to pull the 750,000 Indian and Pakistani soldiers apart.
The official, who held a briefing on condition of anonymity, said the State Department had not concluded whether Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's pledge to oppose terror had slowed the flow of militants into Kashmir.
But the official credited Musharraf with taking a firm stand against extremists and said 800 of 2,000 militant leaders arrested last fall remained in detention.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the India-Pakistan faceoff was ``a worrisome situation.'' Reeker said armed conflict could only add to the problem.
At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he was attempting to reach Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes by telephone to discuss the situation.
``The message clearly to everyone is that it is a dangerous situation, that our hope and all of our efforts are aimed at encouraging them to lessen the tension along the border, both in Kashmir and elsewhere,'' he told reporters.
Rumsfeld also said the heightened tension between India and Pakistan is harmful to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan because it has prompted Pakistan to pull some of its forces from the Afghan border area, where they work in coordination with the United States to hunt down al-Qaida fighters.
``President Musharraf has indicated that there would be substantially more of his forces in the Afghanistan border area if the tension were not so high with respect to his eastern border,'' Rumsfeld said.
Reeker urged restraint and condemned terrorism, saying it undercuts hopes among Kashmiris for a free and fair election to choose local leaders.
The territory is divided into areas of Indian and Pakistani control. The population is mostly Muslim and presumably would choose to be annexed by Pakistan.
Reeker condemned, meanwhile, the slaying Tuesday of a leading Kashmiri peace advocate during a ceremony marking the murder of another independence leader 12 years ago.
Abdul Ghani Lone, a moderate, soft-spoken Muslim separatist leader, had sought dialogue with India to bring self-determination to Kashmir. Reeker said he was murdered by opponents of a peaceful resolution of the territorial dispute.
Recent reports about 45C heat close to 120F make the large land war unfeasible now. Probably in October when the US is going after Iraq.
I am often cast here as the defender of Pakistan, which I'm really not. It's just that hardly anybody else will try to stand up for Musharraf, who I think is trying to do the best he can in an impossible situation.
If that's what happens, I will wholeheartedly endorse it. The goal is to end terrorism both inside and outside of Pakistan. A limited strike by India against whatever camps might exist, should be welcomed by all, including Musharraf.
...asked Pakistan to curb the influx of Islamic militants into the contested territory...
Wasn't it last November 5,000 or so of Musharraf's men were airlifted out of Afghanistan? But, "Some dirt slipped through the screen." Dirt like Al-qaeda and other assorted slime-balls?
The official, who held a briefing on condition of anonymity, said the State Department had not concluded whether Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's pledge to oppose terror had slowed the flow of militants into Kashmir.
Well, gee, how many innocents have died since Mushie made his "pledge" and proceeded with his double-cross?
Sorry, Mush is a liar and pissed off a lot of our own SFs. The "card" (airlift of his men) he wanted to lay on the table to support our "war on terror" has turned out to be a joker. India pays the price for our stupidity. Maybe the people at state should get out in the real world more often. Vajpayee already knows what Mush is, and RAW knew exactly what would happen last November when this little fiasco went down.
We have very bad allies in this "war on terror."
Donald Rumsfeld denied it happened. So did everyone else on the US side, and we had AWACS in the skies.
It could not have happened without our permission, compliance, and subsequent official lying by Bush Administration officials.
Yet, you accept it as fact.
I don't see how you can say that. Why would Musharraf welcome an Indian strike on what Musharraf officially considers Pakistani territory? Even if the target is terrorist camps, it's still Pakistani territory and Musharraf can't be expected to welcome it.
Who the heck is the U.S. to be lecturing other countries on controlling their borders?
LOL!! LOL!! LOL!!
So it is very much in our own interests to prevent such a war. Which we can easily do if we are serious enough about it - just tell both sides if they so much as twitch we will blow them straight to Mars. These uppity children think their idiotic personal feelings and lust for revenge in their two-bit useless war should run world history. They don't, and the sooner they lose their delusions in the matter the better.
These uppity children think their idiotic personal feelings and lust for revenge in their two-bit useless war should run world history.
That is a remarkably ignorant statement! Attacks on India's Parliament are not "personal feelings". A potential nuclear war involving 1.5 billion people is not a "two-bit useless war"!
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