NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, 15 January — India ruled out yesterday an immediate military de-escalation on its border with rival Pakistan, despite the rounding up of some 1,400 alleged extremists in a crackdown on five groups in Pakistan banned by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf .
With fears receding of war erupting between the two nuclear rivals, the focus of their dispute switched to a time frame for an eventual withdrawal of hundreds of thousands of troops deployed on both sides of their border.
"The mobilization is complete and any effort at de-escalation can come only, I repeat only, if and when the cross-border terrorism is effectively stopped," Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes told reporters in New Delhi.
He said the border buildup had been triggered by "terrorist" activities emanating from Pakistan, especially the Dec. 13 attack on the Indian Parliament, which left dead 14 people including the five gunmen. "The moment these incidents end on the border and within our territory it is the time to think of de-escalation," Fernandes said.
Pakistan military spokesman Rashid Qureshi responded that Islamabad expected India "to move back to peace time positions to reduce tensions."
Pakistan Interior Ministry officials in Islamabad said police had picked up almost 1,400 extremists in a sweep that began just hours before Musharraf announced his crackdown in an address Saturday.
The groups targeted included the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Muhammad, the two Pakistani militant outfits which India accuses of staging the attack on Parliament.
Fernandes welcomed Musharraf’s speech, but said his promises would "have to be translated into action," and added that the president should "do it fast" given the tense military standoff on the border. He also said "no sensible person" would consider the use of nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, security officials on both sides of the disputed Kashmiri border reported the resumption yesterday of artillery exchanges between Indian and Pakistani troops. Pakistani police said Indian troops resumed shelling at 1245 GMT yesterday of villages in Pakistani Kashmir.
"The shelling is continuing and they are using both small and big arms," a police official said, adding that the Pakistani army was returning fire. "There is no initial report of any casualties."
Officials in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, reported the overnight death of an Indian soldier and injury to another in heavy artillery attack from Pakistan on Sunday.
A Srinagar police spokesman said the Pakistanis fired in the northern district of Uri, "forcing" Indian troops to retaliate over the Line of Control.
