NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON, 18 January — The United States said yesterday that Pakistan might concede an important demand of archrival India that it hand over some militants for crimes committed in India.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, on a peace mission to South Asia, came to New Delhi after visiting Islamabad and immediately held talks with Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh to try to defuse the "very dangerous" situation in the region. He will have talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and other senior leaders today before leaving for Katmandu.
India has called on Pakistan to hand over 20 alleged militants and criminals as one of its conditions for de-escalating its military standoff with its neighbor. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf "considered appropriate action might involve returning them (the non-Pakistanis on the list) from whence they came," Powell said at a joint news conference with Singh.
At least 14 of the 20 men on India’s wanted list are believed to be Indians. Musharraf has refused to hand over the Pakistanis, saying if there was any evidence against them, Pakistan would "take suitable action".
Powell said India had agreed to supply more information on the men on the list to bolster its case for their extradition. "I’m pleased the Indian government has indicated that they do have more information that will be helpful in resolving this question of this list of 20," he said.
Powell said he hoped diplomacy rather than war would end the crisis, triggered by an attack last month on India’s parliament and blamed by New Delhi on Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatists.
He told US television network ABC, however, that "the situation has been very dangerous". Just how high tensions are in the region was highlighted by a bomb explosion which killed one person and injured eight people in a busy market in Indian Kashmir around the same time as he arrived. Close to a million men are mobilized on each side of the Indian-Pakistani border in the most high-risk military buildup since the two countries — which conducted nuclear tests in 1998 — won independence from Britain in 1947.
"...the way to move forward is to have political and diplomatic action and not let this slide into war," Powell told ABC television. "I think I discern a commitment on both sides that that is how they want to solve it."
In a sign that India may be more open to dialogue, Singh said New Delhi would respond as soon as Musharraf delivered on a promise to curb militants. "As soon as we see demonstration on the ground, we will respond adequately and fully. Be assured of that," he told Powell at the news conference. Simultaneously, US and Indian defense ministers met at the Pentagon. India’s defense minister, George Fernandes, however, gave no hint that New Delhi would stop or back off from its military mobilization, saying India’s armed forces are "prepared for any eventuality".
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld echoed Secretary of State Colin Powell in New Delhi and urged Fernandes to help ease tensions in South Asia, which is complicating US efforts in its war on terror.
President George W. Bush discussed the situation in South Asia with British Prime Minister Tony Blair by telephone. "The president began the day with a call to Prime Minister Blair," during which the two leaders discussed "recent developments in South Asia".
