India expelled Pakistan's ambassador yesterday as cross-border fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbors escalated, forcing thousands of villagers to flee their homes. Both sides used heavy weaponry to fire at each other across the frontier.
The diplomatic move was announced after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met yesterday with top Cabinet ministers and military and intelligence chiefs to decide India's response to a militant attack in Kashmir that killed 34 people on Tuesday.
The Himalayan region has been at the root of two of the three wars fought by India and Pakistan.
India withdrew its ambassador from Pakistan in December, after a militant attack on the Parliament in New Delhi. As tensions rose, both countries slashed their diplomatic staffs, halted overflight rights for airplanes and ended train service.
Pakistan's ambassador had remained in New Delhi, although the Indian government refused to meet with him. India's External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said yesterday that since New Delhi no longer had an ambassador in Islamabad, the Pakistani ambassador would have to leave.
"For the sake of parity of representation between the two countries, the high commissioner of Pakistan, [who] is currently in India, [will] be required to return to Islamabad," he told reporters.
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Pakistan's high commissioner for five years, has been given one week to return to Islamabad.
"It's an unfortunate step, as it obviously will not have a positive impact on the state of relations. But it falls within the sovereign right of India to take any step, whether wise or unwise, and we naturally will respect the decision," Jehangir told state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) by telephone from Delhi.
Pakistan said the expulsion would add to tensions, but urged New Delhi to resolve differences through dialogue.
"Actions like these add to tension, whereas efforts should be in reduction of tension," Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told PTV. "Pakistan, despite this action of India which has disappointed us, we will continue to strive to resolve all issues with India through negotiations and through peaceful means."
Fighting intensified on the border Friday and increased through the night into yesterday morning, witnesses said.
In Indian villages along the frontier, the carcasses of animals lay in the summer heat in abandoned villages, their stench mixing with the smell of used ammunition.
"It's a war," said Bishamber Dass, one of 10,000 people who fled their homes Friday night and was sheltering in a makeshift camp. "The boom of the guns could be heard even at the distance of 5km from the border."
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
A clandestine US Navy special missions unit colloquially known as SEAL Team 6 has been training for missions to assist Taiwan’s defense against an attack by China, the Financial Times said in a report yesterday. The navy commando team famous for killing Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, has been conducting training to take part in a Taiwan conflict at its Dam Neck headquarters in Virginia Beach for more than one year, it said, citing sources familiar with the matter. “The secret training underlines the increased US focus on deterring China from attacking Taiwan, while stepping up preparations for such an event,”
RSS