Posted on 12/29/2001 12:14:13 AM PST by KQQL
NEW DELHI, India (AP) — Indian and Pakistani troops shelled each other in disputed Kashmir overnight, and the Indian army ordered the evacuation Friday of some 20,000 villagers from the border, raising fears of war.
Pakistan told the United States that the possibility of war with India may reduce its ability to support the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, senior military and diplomatic officials said. Pakistan may have to move soldiers to the Indian frontier from the Afghan border, where they are currently hunting followers of Osama bin Laden, the officials said.
President Bush said Friday that his administration was ``working actively to bring some calm in the region, to hopefully convinceboth sides to stop the escalation of force.''
The two nuclear-armed neighbors on Thursday exchanged diplomatic and economic sanctions seen as the toughest since they last fought a war in 1971. Tensions have surged since a Dec. 13 suicide attack on India's parliament that left nine Indians and five attackers dead. India accuses Pakistan of supporting the attack and demands it crack down on two Islamic militant groups. Pakistan denied the charges.
Speaking at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Bush praised Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, saying he had arrested militants and was ``responding forcefully.'' He added, ``I hope India takes note of that.''
Pakistan, a key ally for the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, told Washington through official channels on Friday that it may need to move troops from the Afghan to the Indian border, a senior Pakistani diplomatic official said. A senior army official confirmed the report. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity and did not say how many troops might be transferred
Islamabad warned that India's build-up of troops at the border could make a confrontation inevitable. ``The Indian government is putting itself into a corner where it would be difficult for them to now back off,'' said Gen. Rashid Quereshi, spokesman for Pakistan's military-led government.
Bush said Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke to both sides Friday, urging restraint. The State Department urged the leaders of the two countries to come to an understanding at a South Asia summit in Nepal on Jan. 4-6.
Among the sanctions each country imposed was a ban on overflights by the other's planes. India's Foreign Ministry said Friday the government would make an exception to its ban to allow Musharraf to fly through its airspace to attend the Nepal summit.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is also to attend the summit, but India has not said if the two leaders will meet.
The armies fired mortars at each other for five hours Thursday night in the Poonch sector along the cease-fire line that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, an Indian army official said on condition of anonymity. The exchanges died down Friday morning, he said. There was no immediate comment from Pakistan. The Indian army told some 20,000 people in more than 40 villages in Kashmir to leave their homes within 36 hours, officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday. The army had already warned about 10,000 people in 24 villages near the Pakistani border to move.
Villagers in Indian-ruled Kashmir fled their homes with cots and clothes, saying they fear India and Pakistan will go to war for the fourth time since they became independent from Britain and were separated in 1947.
``The war is about to break out,'' said Sumitra Devi, an elderly woman sheltering with her sons and grandsons at a dilapidated school at Koota in Jammu-Kashmir state.
Devi's house was demolished in the 1971 war with Pakistan, and she said she was already packed Thursday when soldiers came to her village, Mangoo Chak, and told people to evacuate.
Tens of thousands of soldiers, squadrons of fighter jets, artillery and ballistic missiles face each other along the 1,100-mile border. Both sides say they don't want war, but each says it is ready.
In the mutual sanctions announced Thursday, India and Pakistan each ordered half the other's embassy staffs sent home, as well as the overflight ban.
Since Indian planes already avoided Pakistani airspace, the flight ban — due to come into effect Tuesday — hurts Pakistan more. Pakistan International Airlines said Friday it would cancel 12 flights a week to India and reroute 13 others to Asian destinations because they use Indian airspace. No details on the economic cost were available.
Like two of the neighbors' wars, the current tensions have their roots in Kashmir, a mostly Muslim province divided between Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan but claimed by both.
India accuses Pakistan of fomenting violence in its part of Kashmir, where Islamic guerrillas have waged a separatist war that has killed tens of thousands of people since 1989. Pakistan denies the charge and calls it an indigenous struggle.
India demands Pakistan shut down and extradite the leaders of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, two militant groups fighting in Kashmir that it accuses in the Parliament attack. Pakistan says it will take action against the anyone whose involvement in the attack is proven.
Pakistan has frozen assets of the groups and arrested members of Jaish-e-Mohammed, but India has said the moves are only cosmetic. ———
EDITOR'S NOTE: Munir Ahmad in Lahore, Pakistan, and Binoo Joshi in Koota, Jammu-Kashmir contributed to this report.
Pakistan told the United States that the possibility of war with India may reduce its ability to support the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, senior military and diplomatic officials said. Pakistan may have to move soldiers to the Indian frontier from the Afghan border, where they are currently hunting followers of Osama bin Laden, the officials said.
Pakistan is trying it's best to move US in this conflict.. what do you guys think... will US be involved actively if war breaks out between Indian and Pakistan
I get it... Muslim terrorists supported by Pakistan attack the Indian parliament... Naturally, war is about to commence... THEN the USA jumps in and says "time out!" Much the same way that Arafat attacks Israel then cries for peace as Israel is ready to retaliate. Reminds me of the nerd in school who would pick fights, then run to the teacher when he got his wish...
Uh, a pardon me... India was ATTACKED. Do you think the USA would stand back and do nothing if Muslim terrorists attacked our Congress?
I don’t pretend to be a Japanese Historian, but I think the two aren’t really that closely linked, although Japan is amazing when you look at countries with similar population density.
Another thing: where should the US be standing on this? Just because Pakistan is currently "supporting" the US in this anti-terrorist campaign doesn't mean that they don't harbor terrorists themselves.... keep in mind also that China and Pakistan seem to be buddying up here. Maybe we should just stand back? Either that or take the correct side.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.