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Constructive steps taken by India to ease tension: Rumsfeld
New Delhi, June 12 (ANUI): U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday India was taking constructive steps to reduce tensions with Pakistan over the Kashmir dispute. Rumsfeld, who arrived here on Tuesday night, called on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Wednesday. Earlier, he met External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes. After his meeting with Fernandes, Rumsfeld said constructive steps are being undertaken to reduce the anxiety over the tension that exists between India and Pakistan. India has pulled back warships from near Pakistani waters and reopened its airspace to Pakistani flights as part of moves to reduce tension in South Asia, where the nuclear-armed neighbours have mobilised one million men along their border. Rumsfeld is expected to have pressed New Delhi to further tone down its military posture and in return get Islamabad to take further steps against Kashmiri separatist militants based in Pakistan. Tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals have already eased somewhat after India reopened its airspace to Pakistani flights and recalled warships patrolling off Pakistani waters. But with a million men mobilised on the border, the focus still is on reducing the immediate risk of war, before tackling deeper problems behind the Kashmir dispute, the cause of two of the three wars between the two countries. The two sides mobilised their armies after a December 13 attack on India's parliament which New Delhi blamed on Kashmiri militant groups based in Pakistan. Tensions rose further after a May 14 raid on an army camp in Jammu which New Delhi again blamed on Pakistan-based militants. The two sides have been engaged in almost daily firing since then across the military ceasefire line. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has condemned both attacks and promised to curb Islamic militants who India says cross over the line of control to attack Indian targets and fuel a 12-year revolt against its rule there. New Delhi says it would "wait and watch" before withdrawing troops from the border. The prime agenda for Rumsfeld in South Asia would be to find a way acceptable to both sides to verify an undertaking by Musharraf to stop Pakistan-based militants from infiltrating Indian-ruled Kashmir. India wants only bilateral monitoring, while Pakistan has said there should be an outside component to the mechanism. A senior U.S. defence official, travelling with Rumsfeld, said on Wednesday that there had been no talk of U.S. force becoming involved in monitoring infiltration by militants across the line of control. Western newspapers have reported that an Anglo-American force could be used to check whether Pakistan President Musharraf has delivered on a promise to stop Islamic militants from crossing into Kashmir to join a revolt against Indian rule there. Besides ordering the withdrawal of the warships, a government source said India had also selected a new ambassador to replace the envoy it recalled from Pakistan six months ago, though no decision had yet been taken to send him. India is determined to douse the Kashmiri separatist revolt before state elections due there later this year, which it sees as key to legitimising its rule in the Muslim-majority state. Islamabad, which has long said the Kashmiri people should be allowed to vote on whether to join Pakistan or India, wants attention focused instead on alleged human rights abuses by what it calls "Indian occupying forces" in Kashmir. The dispute over the Himalayan region is a legacy of the hurried partition by departing British colonial rulers of the Indian subcontinent into Islamic Pakistan and secular but mostly Hindu India in 1947. At the time, Islamabad said the Muslim region belonged naturally to Pakistan. India says that giving up Kashmir would undermine its secular credentials and trigger a series of other separatist movements that it fears could ultimately dismember the country. While Pakistan has long favoured international mediation over the Kashmir dispute, New Delhi is opposed to outside interference in a region it considers an integral part.(ANI) Infiltration continues: Farooq
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to top Jammu, June 12 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said on Wednesday there was no decline in Pakistan- sponsored cross border incursions in the state. He was talking to reporters while inspecting a passing out parade by state police in Baramulla district. Abdullah said measures taken by India to reduce tensions were futile as infiltration was continuing. India has pulled back warships from near Pakistani waters and reopened its airspace to Pakistani flights as part of moves to reduce tension in South Asia, where the nuclear-armed neighbours have mobilised one million men along their border. "Air space is opening up, the naval vessels coming back is a step forward, but I think major step will be when the cross-border terrorism comes to a complete halt. Because even yesterday (Tuesday) we had information that there were people who have crossed over. So where it is ending?," Abdullah asked. In reply to a question about Pakistan's pledge to stop cross border terrorism, Abdullah said he doubted Islamabad's sincerity. "I don't think Pakistan is ever going to be serious that is my inner feeling. It's never going to be serious. Their army's very existence is on hatred towards India," said Abdullah. But with a million men mobilised on the border, analysts say the focus is on reducing the immediate risk of war before tackling deeper problems behind the Kashmir dispute, the cause of two of the three wars between the two countries. U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is on a peace mission to India and Pakistan. The two sides have been engaged in almost daily firing across the ceasefire line. Nearly a dozen-odd Pakistan backed militant outfits are fighting India's rule in Jammu and Kashmir. India blames Pakistan for arming and training militants. Pakistan denies the charge and says it only provides moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris.(ANI)
Border shelling continues amid Rumsfeld visit Go to top Srinagar, June 12 (ANI): Indian and Pakistani troops continued to trade mortar and heavy machinegun fire in Kashmir on Wednesday even as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held talks with Indian leaders to try to defuse tensions between the two nuclear foes. Residents of Seri village in Naushera district of the troubled state said heavy shelling from across the border has disrupted their daily life for nearly a month now. "I have to take great care saving my children from shelling. We keep moving in and out of the house. So if there has to be a war, let there be a full-fledged war. At least there won't be so much uncertainty and fear," said Tripta, a woman. Underground bunkers adjoining houses are a common sight in the border villages as many of the habitats are located within meters of the volatile international border and disputed military Line of Control. "Unless we make bunkers we won't be safe. We have to save our children after all. Anything can happen, you can't trust Pakistan. As you can see the firing is still going on," said Dharampal, another resident of Seri village. The Indian and Pakistan armies, massed along their frontier since a raid on the Indian parliament in December that New Delhi blamed on Pakistani-based militants, exchanged fire overnight along the ceasefire line that divides the Kashmir region. The two sides have been engaged in almost daily firing across the Line of Control since the standoff began.(ANI)
Pullback alone can ease tension: Pervez
Go to top Jeddah (Soudi Arabia), June 12 (ANI): Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, who is on a visit to Saudi Arabia to drum up support for his country in its military standoff with India, said the situation with India would remain "grim" until the two nuclear-armed neighbours pulled their troops back from their frontline positions. "I have been saying that we will never initiate war but at the same time I have also been saying that we have to guard our honour and dignity," said Musharraf after his talks with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in Jeddah on Wednesday. "So it is left to me and my government to decide what is the cut line between avoidance of war and not compromising on our honour and dignity," he added. India, in a gesture aimed at easing tensions with Pakistan, has reopened its airspace to Pakistani overflights after a six- month ban and decided to withdraw warships off the west coast of Pakistan. Musharraf has called the moves "a very small beginning". India has promised further moves if Pakistan takes firm action against Islamic militants blamed by New Delhi for attacks on Indian targets, but Musharraf insisted Pakistan had done "far more than its share" towards easing tension. He however ruled out any nuclear confrontation in South Asia but added conditions for preventing such a possibility should be undertaken. "There are three ways of preventing a nuclear confrontation (and) totally eliminating the chances of it. Obviously no sane man can ever think of going into the nuclear mode... Number one, let us de-nuclearise South Asia. Let there be no nuclear weapons in South Asia, Pakistan is willing, we have offered," the General said. "Number two, we need to ensure that Pakistan's conventional deterrence potential is so potent that India never thinks of initiating a war... lastly, resolve the core dispute of Kashmir. If that gets resolved then there will be no confrontation," he added. Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 -- two of them over Kashmir. Both conducted nuclear tests in 1998 and both have ballistic missiles. Musharraf is due to return to Pakistan later in the day ahead of a visit by U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has warned that the confrontation between the two Asian states is still volatile despite India's gestures. Musharraf has praised the United States for taking what he called a "very balanced approach" to the crisis.(ANI)
Army exercises in Rajasthan on despite easing of tensions.
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top Bikaner, June 12 (ANI): Despite easing of tensions, Indian army continues its exercises in Rajasthan, close to the Pakistan border. Infantry men deployed in Bikaner district carried on with their drill even as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld began his visit to New Delhi in a new push to diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between the nuclear capable rivals. New Delhi ordered its fleet to withdraw from the northern Arabian Sea and restored overflight rights to Pakistan International Airlines on the eve of Rumsfeld's visit. Newspapers said Indian armed forces have been de-alerted from six hours notice to 48 hours and attempts were initiated to restore diplomatic contact at the highest level. But New Delhi has said it would "wait and watch" before withdrwaing troops from the Pakistan border. Both sides have deployed more than a million men along the border since the December raid on India's parliament. The troops are backed by missile batteries, tanks and warplanes along the 3,310 km frontier from Kashmir in the Himalayas through the fertile fields of Punjab and the deserts of Rajasthan and Gujarat to the Arabian Sea. The two countries, which conducted a series of nuclear test blasts in 1998 but whose exact nuclear arms capability is uncertain, have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.(ANI)
People's Front dissolved
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top New Delhi, June 12 (ANI): People's Front comprising Left parties, Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (Secular) has been dissolved following differences over the choice of a Presidential candidate. Left parties on Wednesday decided to oppose the NDA nominee A P J Abdul Kalam in the coming Presidential poll. "Since the ruling NDA is going ahead with its candidate, Left parties are of the view that it must be opposed," a joint statement by four Left parties--CPI, CPM, RSP and Forward Bloc-- said.(ANI)
Cong MLA "detained by Saffron alliance"
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to top Mumbai, June 12 (ANI): Congress MLA Padmakar Walvi, on the eve of a political storm for defecting to Shiv Sena-BJP combine, discounted reports on Wednesday that he had switched his loyalties to the Opposition and alleged he had been illegally detained by the Saffron alliance at Matoshree Club for the last few days. Addressing a press conference at the Sahyadri Guest House here in the presence of Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Walvi said he was with the Congress and would vote for the Democratic Front government in Thursday's trial of strength on the floor of the House. The chief minister said that action would be taken against those who had kept Walvi in "illegal confinement". But such action would come after Walvi lodged a police complaint. Asked whether the Congress would withdraw its complaint against Walvi on the basis of which he was issued show cause notice for disqualification by Speaker Arun Gujarathi, Deshmukh replied that he would seek a legal opinion.(ANI)
Pak terrorists waiting to strike in big way after June 26: BSF Go to top Srinagar, June 12 (ANI): Security forces here have said that Pak- based terrorists might strike after June 26 and unleash a fresh reign of terror in the valley. Posters have been put up in the valley in that regard, they said, adding the manpower and infrastructure of some of the terrorist groups was "still intact", and that they could strike whenever they wanted. Speaking to reporters here Wednesday, BSF deputy inspector general R.S. Bhullar said: "Terrorists have put up posters in South Kashmir saying they would intensify activities from June 26. They have even advised people to complete their social engagements like marriage before that". Bhullar said the terrorists are lying low for the time being "due to international pressure on Pakistan". "They were waiting for subsequent orders from their leaders across the LoC", he added. He claimed that there has been a definite decrease in infiltration and only ten terrorists belonging to HM sneaked in between June 1 and 9. However, he said, "we have intercepted some messages which suggest that around 90 terrorists have sneaked in showing that infiltration is still continuing". He said Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen would lead the terrorist attacks with the total strength of 525 and 975 respectively. "These two organisations have formed special groups to attack Amarnath pilgrims", he added quoting intelligence sources. But, he said, "troops have been deployed in large numbers and sanitisation of the area will start very soon" to face any situation. (ANI)
Seven terrorists killed in group clash Go to top Jammu, June 12 (ANI): In a clash between terrorists belonging to the Lashker-e--Taiba and the Hizbul Mujahideen, seven terrorists were killed and three injured in Kishtwar areas of Doda district early on Wednesday, a senior police officer said. The foreign mercenaries of Pakistan-based LeT had a tiff over an area of operation in Doda district with local terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen belonging to Shakeel Ansari group of Fazibad (Mardawa) in Kishtwar area. In the ensuing clash between the two outfits, seven terrorists were killed, SSP Doda, Vijai Singh Samyal, said adding three terrorists were injured. Of the terrorists killed, six belonged to the local Hizbul Mujahideen outfit and one to LeT.(ANI)
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