NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, 8 June — India and Pakistan want to avoid war and tensions are “a bit down” in South Asia, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage indicated yesterday as the United States said it had seen a “significant” drop off in incursions by militants into Indian Kashmir. “We have growing indications that infiltration across the Line of Control is down significantly,” said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher in Washington.
Speaking to reporters after holding talks in New Delhi with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Armitage said one of the main sticking points was on the issue of verification of Pakistan’s claimed crackdown on militancy.
“They (the Indians) do want terrorism to stop and we share their view,” he said, adding: “The tensions are a bit down on both sides.”
He said that in talks he held Thursday in Islamabad, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, too, had “explained his desire to avoid war in keeping with the honor and dignity of Pakistan, but he did not make any promises.
“The government of India, I think, is also intent on avoiding war,” Armitage said.
The US envoy said Musharraf had promised to work for a permanent end to incursions by militants over the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border that divides Kashmir between Pakistan and India.
Armitage said no decision had been made on how to monitor an end to incursions by militants on the LoC. “Both in New Delhi and Islamabad, I did have discussions on the modalities of monitoring the LoC to check cross-border infiltration, but no decision has been taken.”
But he said it seemed “a bit far-fetched” to patrol the Himalayan region with helicopters. Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said after talks with Armitage there was “no alternative to peace”.
In Washington, a US State Department spokesman said yesterday infiltration into Indian-controlled Kashmir from Pakistani side is “down significantly” in recent days but not yet stopped completely.
“We can’t, at this point, say that this change has been done on a permanent basis. That’s what President Musharraf has promised; that’s what we’re looking for.”
On the diplomatic front, the European Union and its East Asian partners took their turn yesterday to urge India and Pakistan to back away from the precipice of war over Kashmir, during a foreign ministers’ meeting that was embarrassingly short of foreign ministers.
In a joint declaration, the 25 nations that belong to the Asia-Europe (ASEM) group added their voice to international appeals for New Delhi and Islamabad “to take all necessary steps to defuse tension.”
In Saint Petersburg, the leaders of Russia, China and four Central Asian nations meeting at a regional summit called on India and Pakistan yesterday to pursue efforts to resolve their dispute over Kashmir peacefully.
“The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) supports efforts by India and Pakistan to solve their differences by peaceful means as was stated when they met in Almaty,”
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at the end of the summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that Pakistan end “terrorism” in Kashmir. He said he expected Pakistan to take the initiative in disputed Kashmir.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s trip next week to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan has been delayed by a couple of days, an official said yesterday.
Eight civilians and an unspecified number of soldiers were killed yesterday as Indian and Pakistani troops traded fire in disputed Kashmir.
