SRINAGAR/ISLAMABAD, 21 December — Tension between archrivals India and Pakistan showed no sign of abating yesterday as both continued acerbic exchanges and the Indian Army deployed troops on its border with Pakistan in the northern states of Kashmir and Punjab in response to what it said is a Pakistani troop buildup across the frontier.
The bitter foes exchanged overnight mortar and heavy machine-gun fire across a cease-fire line dividing the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
India said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would not hold talks next month with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of a regional summit in Nepal as hundreds of tanks were seen rumbling toward the Indian border with Pakistan and Indian troops shelled civilians in Pakistani Kashmir.
Despite US appeals, India said it would not share evidence with Pakistan that last week’s attack in which 14 people were killed was carried out by two Pakistan-based groups at the behest of Pakistani military intelligence.
"We are going ahead to share this evidence only with our friends and partners who are united in their determination to fight terrorism," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said.
Islamabad has strongly denied any involvement in the Dec. 13 attack and offered to carry out a joint investigation with India into the incident.
A defense spokesman told Reuters redeployment of troops along with equipment had taken place in the Chenab-Ravi corridor since Wednesday and this concentration in the area was in response to Pakistan’s buildup across the international border.
Until now, paramilitary Border Security Force soldiers were the only ones guarding the border in the Chenab-Ravi area, which stretches for around 600 km from Jammu in the southern part of Kashmir to the state of Punjab.
Pakistan said yesterday it did not see its nuclear rival India preparing for war but would use its full force against any "misadventure" by New Delhi.
"Pakistan is exercising maximum restraint. Pakistan wants a resolution of these problems through peaceful means, through negotiations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told reporters. Asked if India was preparing for war, Khan said: "At the moment not, we hope not."
Authorities in Azad Kashmir said India fired artillery shells across the border.
A senior police official said the Indian shelling critically wounded two civilians, including a boy, in their homes in Bandala Mera village in the Samahni sector.
"Shelling started at 10:00 a.m. and continued intermittently until 2:30 p.m. following which the casualties were discovered," Sardar Faheem Ahmed, deputy inspector general of police in Azad Kashmir, told AFP.
Washington has urged India to share evidence about the parliament attack in order to strengthen Musharraf’s arm against militants sheltering in his country — an advice India has rejected outright.
