NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, 24 May — India yesterday rejected calls to engage Pakistan in talks over Kashmir, as Islamabad announced the recall of troops on foreign duty and Britain warned confrontation between the bitter rivals could escalate into nuclear war. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told a press conference in Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar that there was “no question” of holding talks with Pakistan until President Pervez Musharraf matched his words with deeds in reining in militants.
Asked if the two sides were close to war, he replied: “The situation is serious and it is a challenging situation, and we will meet the challenge.” He added cryptically: “We had said war clouds were hovering, but sometimes lightning strikes even if the weather is clear. We hope that the lightning will not strike.”
On the front lines, fierce artillery battles between Indian and Pakistani soldiers again raged in Kashmir, leaving at least another five people dead and several wounded on both sides. The increasing war talk on both sides linked to increased military mobilization fueled fears that India and Pakistan are lurching toward war, which British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned yesterday had the potential for igniting nuclear conflict. “There is certainly a risk (of nuclear war),” Straw told BBC radio.
Pakistan said yesterday it would pull troops from the Afghan border and recall soldiers from UN peacekeeping duties in Sierra Leone. “India has created a situation on our borders which demands that we should reorganize and redeploy all forces in a ready state,” Information Minister Nisar Memon told AFP by telephone from the tense border region.
At the same time, Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar called on the United Nations to pressure India to begin negotiations over Kashmir, describing the New Delhi government, in a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, as “an arrogant power” which was using the fight against terrorism as a pretext for aggression.
Vajpayee late yesterday went into an hour-long huddle in New Delhi with his Cabinet Security Committee, essentially his war Cabinet. Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said afterward that the meeting had been a “stocktaking of the current situation.” He did not elaborate.
Also yesterday, Pakistan’s military top brass met in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad to review strategies in case of war with India. In a statement issued after the meeting, Musharraf reiterated that “while Pakistan stood for peace, its valiant armed forces were totally prepared to respond effectively to any attempt at aggression.”
International leaders have launched a diplomatic blitz on both countries. US Secretary of State Colin Powell called Musharraf twice yesterday, an official close to the Pakistani president told reporters. Musharraf reiterated Pakistan’s position that it does not want war with India and favors negotiations to end the dangerous standoff, the official said.
