Drums of War Getting Louder By The Day In the Subcontinent

30/05/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Number of Troops Withdrawn From Afghan Border Not Disclosed||Armed Kashmiri Nationalists Again Attack an Indian Army Camp Killing Three Indian Soldiers||Washington Warns of War & Announces Contingency Plan to Withdraw 60,000 Americans From Sub-continent||STORY: A Pakistani spokesman who declined to be identified said on Thursday it had begun withdrawing troops from its western border with Afghanistan to reinforce its tense eastern border with archrival India.

Pakistan has deployed thousands of troops on the Afghan border since late last year to help U.S.-led forces hunting al Qaeda and Taliban militants fleeing from Afghanistan.

Pakistan and India are locked in a military standoff on their common border since a bloody attack on the Indian parliament in December that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

Tension between the nuclear-armed rivals rose sharply after suspected militants attacked an Indian military camp in Kashmir on May 14, killing more than 30 people.

Washington, which views Pakistan as a key ally in its war on terror against the al Qaeda network, has urged both sides to show restraint but called on Pakistan to stop infiltrations into Indian Kashmir.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said on Monday there were no such infiltrations -- a statement taken by some as a promise to crack down on cross-border militant movement. India says it is still looking for action on the ground.

Armed Kashmiri Nationalists Raid Indian Kashmir camp

Meanwhile, two militants stormed an Indian police camp in Kashmir, killing three policemen, as Washington warned extremists could turn a standoff between India and Pakistan into a full-blown war

The militants, who attacked the camp late on Wednesday, were holed up inside as police said they were delaying action against them in an attempt to capture them alive.

The latest raid came hours after British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw ended a peace mission to South Asia, saying the risk of war was high but conflict not inevitable.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage visits India and Pakistan on June 6 and 7 in another bid to avert a war that would derail the U.S.-led fight against terror and possibly devastate the region.

U.S. television networks said he was likely to be followed to the region by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Britain and Japan, part of an international peace offensive, said Pakistan genuinely wanted to meet Indian demands and stop Muslim militants launching raids into Indian territory.

But Australia's defence minister said on Thursday the standoff could still blow up into a major conflict.

U.S. WARNS OF WAR

The latest raid by armed Kashmiri nationalist Resistance men added to tension in the confrontation with Pakistan.

The nuclear-armed neighbours, exchanged mortar and machine-gun fire on Thursday along the Line of Control, a ceasefire line dividing disputed Kashmir.

"There is a danger that as tensions escalate the leaders could find themselves in a situation in which irresponsible elements can spark a conflict," U.S. state department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington.

"The climate is very charged and a serious conflagration could ensue if events spiral out of control."

EVACUATION PLANS

In preparation for an eventual war, USA Today reported that the U.S. government was drawing up contingency plans for the evacuation of more than 60,000 Americans from India and Pakistan.

It said a U.S. government team was in India working on a plan to evacuate 1,100 U.S. servicemen from three bases in Pakistan and more than 60,000 U.S. citizens in both countries.

However, asked if a team from Washington was in India preparing an emergency evacuation plan, a U.S. embassy spokesman in New Delhi said: "No".

"Every embassy in the world has contingency plans for an evacuation. That is a Standard Operating Procedure," he said.
Australia and New Zealand have already urged their citizens to leave India and Pakistan, escalating earlier warnings, and advised them to defer all travel to the troubled countries.

PHOTO CAPTION

Indian mortars, hidden under camouflage nets, point towards the India-Pakistan border near Jammu on May 29. REUTERS/Arko Datta