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Pakistan Faces “Mounting Threat Of War” From India
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| India moves two corps to borders with Pakistan |
ISLAMABAD, Dec. 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Disappointed by India’s refusal to meet, and rattled by further troop movements within India, which only occurred during previous wars, Pakistan announced Sunday it cannot ignore the “mounting threat of war” from India.
Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, said Friday Pakistan had done everything possible to defuse tensions.
"We have done all that we should have or could have done. We have taken action against suspected terrorists," said a Pakistani government spokesman Sunday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"After the Indians moved two corps from their eastern border to the western border, Pakistan has also deployed its troops and they are now in a battle-ready position," the spokesman added.
Pakistan Foreign Minister, Abdul Sattar, warned Saturday that the dispute was growing "dangerously tense" and any small act of provocation could snowball.
"Shrill, threatening and warlike statements generate a momentum of their own which is extremely dangerous for peace between the two countries," he said.
Abdul Sattar said Pakistan could not ignore the "mounting threat of war" and its armed forces had taken all "necessary precautions.” But he stressed the use of nuclear weapons was "inconceivable".
Meanwhile, Pakistan faced fresh U.S. pressure Sunday to round up groups accused of allegedly targeting India, as its top military brass planned its response to any Indian attack across their tense border, news agencies reported.
U.S. President, George W. Bush, has called on Pakistan to "eliminate extremists" allegedly implicated in an attack on India’s parliament and urged leaders of the South Asian nuclear rivals to defuse their escalating dispute.
In separate phone calls from his Texas ranch Saturday to Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Pakistani President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Bush "urged both leaders to work to reduce tensions in the region", the White House said.
But he specifically called on Musharraf to act decisively against groups seeking to "undermine Pakistan, and provoke a war between India and Pakistan and destabilize the coalition against terrorism".
Vajpayee, however, has gathered leaders of his country's political parties Sunday to discuss the rising tensions with Pakistan, CNN International reported.
The Indian government said Sunday all political parties have offered their support if it goes to war against Pakistan, according to BBC’s online news service.
But Vajpayee told opposition leaders in Delhi he was confident diplomatic pressure would resolve the escalating crisis.
India plans to send politicians abroad to plead India's case and call on the international community for support.
"I firmly believe this will put sufficient pressure on Pakistan and it will be forced to act against the terrorist groups," Vajpayee was quoted as saying by Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pramod Mahajan, BBC reported.
Vajpayee, leader of the ruling BJP party, already has the support of the main opposition Congress party in its stand on Pakistan, so the backing of the other parties is expected.
The Hindu-nationalist BJP held an executive committee meeting Saturday in which Vajpayee said India does not want war with Pakistan, but that its neighbor must take stronger action against so-called militant groups operating in its country.
"The nation should be ready for any eventuality," read a resolution passed at the executive meeting.
Vajpayee also reiterated his calls for the international community to become more engaged in the situation and put more pressure on Pakistan.
In Islamabad Sunday, Musharraf held consultations with top politicians at his house about the situation with India.
But the meeting drew criticism at home, with leaders of four parties complaining they were not invited to take part.
The Pakistan Peoples Party - the party of former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto - and PML, the party of ousted Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, both said their parties did not receive formal invitations to attend.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Jamaat-e-Islami, two leading Islamic parties, also said they were snubbed. Their party chiefs have been under arrest for the past two months, and the groups were active in anti-American demonstrations in October.
Military tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since the bloody December 13 assault on India's parliament, which New Delhi accuses Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence of masterminding. Islamabad denies the allegation.
However, Pakistan has taken moves to crack down on the organizations -Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad - blamed for the parliament attack.
Pakistan has detained 50 militants including Jaish leader Maulana Mazood Azhar and frozen Lashkar's assets, but India has rejected the moves as "cosmetic".
Meanwhile, as the threat of war gripped Pakistan, a newspaper editorial Sunday warned that a conflict could spin out of control and "envelop the subcontinent in a nuclear mushroom cloud".
"These factors should prompt New Delhi to review its belligerent posture," the Nation newspaper said.
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