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Pakistani, Indian Experts Call For Nuclear Risk Reduction
ISLAMABAD (News Agencies) - India and Pakistan must do more to reduce the risk of nuclear war, experts from both sides said here Monday at a seminar seen as a chance to boost unofficial contacts between the South Asian rivals.
Retired Indian air chief marshal, S.K. Mehra, said the visit by the Indian delegation of former diplomats and defense experts was a backdoor way to find "common ground" between the world's newest nuclear powers.
"Any discussion with each other has an advantage. We are not decision makers, but we are trying to see the common ground," he said on the sidelines of the seminar on nuclear risk and restraint.
"Avoidance of conflict between the two sides is in the interest of the two countries ... We need dialogue to get going."
The Indian delegation includes former foreign secretary J.N. Dixit, former diplomat K.S. Bajpai, retired lieutenant general Vasantha R. Raghavan, retired rear admiral Raja Menon and a university professor, Mateen Zuberi.
They are expected to meet Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar and Foreign Secretary Inamul Haq during their stay.
The seminar, organized by local think-tank Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), will receive papers from defense experts on the nuclear risks perceived by India and Pakistan.
Former Pakistani diplomat Najumuddin Sjeikh said "Track II" diplomacy through unofficial, low-level contacts "is a useful way of seeking a meeting of minds on the subject of considerable importance to security in South Asia."
Pakistan and India have fought three wars since their partition and independence from Britain in 1947, as well as a bloody border conflict in the disputed Kashmir region in 1998.
U.S. President Bill Clinton has described South Asia as the "most dangerous place in the world" following their entry into the nuclear club in 1998.
India led the way with tests, which were answered almost immediately by Pakistan.
Both sides have refused to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, saying they need a "minimum deterrence" given the ongoing dispute over Kashmir, a Himalayan state divided between them in 1947 but still claimed by both.
Mehra said the seminar would focus on "any tendency to engage in nuclear fighting, uncontrolled escalation and to prevent nuclear war through misperceptions [and] accidental war."
Menon said the experts were "concentrating on nuclear risk reduction."
"It is a subject which cannot wait for the climate to improve," the retired rear admiral said
Tentative moves are currently underway to resume dialogue between Pakistan and India over Kashmir. Talks have been on ice since 1998, after border hostilities broke out in the Kargil area of the state.
Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf on Monday urged a resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India during a meeting with the Indian ambassador, officials said.
An official statement said Musharraf "stressed the need for early resumption of the dialogue process for resolution of the Kashmir dispute."
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