[mobglob-discuss] on the brink

[martin william fournier]

Frantic bid to avert nuclear conflict

Observer Worldview

Jason Burke in London, Rory McCarthy in Islamabad and Luke Harding in 
Srinagar
Sunday May 26, 2002
The Observer

World leaders yesterday mounted a frantic last-ditch diplomatic effort to 
defuse the conflict between Pakistan and India and avert the threat of 
nuclear war in south Asia.
As Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, prepared to fly to the region, the 
presidents of America and Russia made an unprecedented joint plea for peace, 
calling on the two countries to attend an emergency summit in Kazakhstan in 
10 days.

Yesterday tensions rose further after Pakistan tested a medium-range 
nuclear-capable missile in a defiant show of strength and the Indians 
maintained their own belligerent stance. 'We have waited for far too long 
and our wait is nearing its end,' Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Indian Prime 
Minister, told journalists.

Straw is expected to arrive in Islamabad early this week before travelling 
on to New Delhi. Foreign Office sources yesterday welcomed the Russian offer 
of hosting talks and said Straw was seeking ways of enabling both sides to 
back down without losing face.

There are concerns that without outside mediation the crisis could swiftly 
spiral out of control and that both states may deploy their substantial 
nuclear arsenals. There are now nearly a million soldiers facing off along 
the border.

Speaking in St Petersburg yesterday Presidents George Bush and Vladimir 
Putin urged General Pervez Musharraf, the military leader of Pakistan, to 
fulfil his pledge to stop hardline Islamic militants carrying out raids into 
the Indian-controlled sector of the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir.

'It's very important that President Musharraf... stops the incursions across 
the border,' Bush said. 'We are making it very clear to both parties that 
there is no benefit in war. We are deeply concerned about the rhetoric. 
There is a lot of diplomatic effort going into bringing some calm and reason 
to the region.'

India accuses Pakistan of funding and arming the Islamic militants 
responsible for a string of attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only 
Muslim-majority state, and further afield. Relations between the two powers 
deteriorated sharply following an assault by Islamic militants on India's 
parliament in New Delhi last December in which 14 died, including the 
attackers. The two nuclear powers have fought three wars since independence 
in 1947, two over Kashmir.

Putin said he would invite both the leaders to one-to-one talks on the 
sidelines of a regional security summit in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in early 
June. Neither state has yet formally responded to the invitiation.

However Pakistan promised more missile tests of both Ghauri and longer-range 
Shaheen missiles over the next three days.

Musharraf gave no hint of compromise yesterday. 'We don't want war, but we 
are ready for war,' he said.

Pakistan's first major missile test for three years was a success, Musharraf 
told an assembly of Islamic scholars. 'It showed total accuracy. It hit the 
target,' the former commando said, before repeating, 'God is great.'

Although Musharraf has tried to lead Pakistan in a more moderate direction 
since 11 September, diplomats say militants backed by the military 
intelligence service, the powerful ISI, are still crossing into Kashmir.





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