US Secretary of State Colin Powell urged India and Pakistan yesterday to seek a peaceful settlement to their dispute over Kashmir as the nuclear rivals exchanged fire across the border.
But India, angered at US support for its nuclear rival and traditional enemy, vowed to continue "punitive action" against infiltrators from Pakistan into Kashmir.
Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said New Delhi would be ruthless in taking action against what it sees as Pakistan-sponsored militancy in Kashmir.
A senior military official said that sporadic firing across the military Line of Control dividing Kashmir continued into Tuesday, as both countries ignored a call by US President George Bush to "stand down" while Washington launched its strikes on Afghanistan.
Powell, speaking during a whistle-stop visit to Islamabad before flying on to India later yesterday, also said that a peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute had to take account of the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
Though a State Department official said there was no change to the US position, analysts said his comments were likely to incense India, which blames "cross-border terrorism" by Pakistan for the insurgency in Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge.
"I think he is going to get a very cold reception," said Bharat Karnad at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. "It was the wrong thing to say at the wrong time."
The border firing which erupted on Monday was the most serious in nearly a year and came amid increasing frustration in India about Washington adopting Islamabad as its key ally in its war on terrorism.
Pakistan said two people died and some 25 were wounded when Indian troops opened fire across the border in the Rawalkot district of Pakistan-ruled Kashmir.
Fernandes told a news conference, his first since being reinstated as defense minister after more than six months out of the Cabinet, that the firing was in response to intrusions.
"It is punitive action and will continue," he said.
"India will be ruthless in dealing with infiltration and against the kind of methods used by them, including laying mines, killing civilians with IEDs [improvised explosive devices] or suicide exercises like the one we experienced at the Jammu and Kashmir assembly," he said.
Some 38 people died in a suicide bomb attack on Kashmir's state assembly on Oct. 1.
A Pakistan-based militant group first claimed and then denied responsibility for the attack.
Analysts saw the border attack as a show of force by New Delhi to demonstrate to Pakistan, and the US, that it is ready to fight its own battles in its own war on terrorism.
"This appears to be a manufactured incident, or series of incidents, specifically directed at Powell," said one Western analyst who tracks South Asia closely.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee warned Washington this month that India's patience was wearing thin with Pakistan after the attack on Kashmir's state assembly. Since then, many have been expecting India to retaliate.
"India had to do something forceful and this was the way to get the message across to the Pakistanis," said Karnad.
The US, fearing instability in Pakistan, is keen to see Islamabad and New Delhi cool tensions while it continues its strikes on Afghanistan.
Powell said the Kashmir issue was central to the relationship between India and Pakistan -- comments likely to irk New Delhi which says the region is an integral part of India and refuses to acknowledge the centrality of Kashmir in peace talks.
While he balanced his comments by condemning the attack on the Kashmir assembly as "terrorism," Powell also said peace talks had to be based on "mutual respect to each other and desire to accommodate the aspirations of the Kashmiri people."
India contradicted Powell's comments just minutes before he landed in New Delhi from Islamabad. India's foreign ministry said that "terrorism" sponsored by Pakistan in Kashmir -- and not Kashmir itself -- was the problem. India rejects any outside mediation over Kashmir.
Indian Home (Interior) Minister L.K. Advani told Outlook magazine that it was hard for the ordinary Indian to understand why the US had turned to Pakistan for help.
"And he is not able to digest how a terrorist state, which has given us trouble for over a decade, has become the front-rank US ally in this war against terrorism," he said.
Vajpayee, who held failed peace talks with Musharraf in the Indian city of Agra in July, has declined an offer made this month by the Pakistan president for a new round of talks.
The latest border firing started the same day that Vajpayee named Fernandes as defense minister, a move seen as likely to dilute the pro-American stance taken by External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, who previously had also held the defense post.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS