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Tension Eases & Blair Says Pak position on Kashmir "very strong"
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Blair attempts to calm Pak-Indian crisis |
By Zafarul-Islam Khan
NEW DELHI, Jan. 5 (IslamOnline) - There are clear signs here that tension has eased between the two adversaries of the Subcontinent with India deciding to keep its forces on full alert while pursuing its goals through diplomacy for the time being.
Indian delegations are touring world capitals to explain the Indian position. As part of this effort Indian Home Minister LK Advani is now in Washington said late Friday that it will take a "hard look" at sending a peace envoy to India and Pakistan next week to mediate in the crisis involving the two countries.
"As far as somebody actually going there to add to our efforts, this is under consideration and we will have a hard look at this at the beginning of next week after the leaders have returned from Kathmandu," said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Powell said he expected Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to take more action against what he claimed to be “terrorist organizations” operating from within Pakistan. "I think Pakistan has done a great deal since this crisis started on the 13th of December, first by arresting the leaders of the two 'terrorist' organizations most closely linked to being the perpetrators of this act, JeM (Jaish-e Mohammed) and LeT (Lashkar-e Taiba).
"Pakistan has also arrested a number of other individuals who might be associated with terrorist activities. So they have done quite a bit," Powell said.
He added that he is encouraged by India's restraint.
On the other hand, U.S. Defense Secretary, Rumsfeld said yesterday that there is no danger of an India-Pakistan war.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in India yesterday on a three-day visit to broker peace between the two countries. Heading a 90-member delegation, Prime Minister Blair is spending the day in Bangalore and Hyderabad on business tour and will reach Delhi tomorrow, Sunday.
Blair issued a call from Dhaka for the two countries to de-escalate. On arriving in the southern city of Bangalore, which is India's equivalent of the Silicon Valley, he said that he brings no blueprint for Kashmir but he made a surprise statement that Pakistan's position on Kashmir was "strong."
In a television interview, Blair said "of course, Pakistan has a very strong position on Kashmir and they are entitled to that political position but I think most people recognize and indeed the action (of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf) has demonstrated that there cannot be any place for the type of terrorist act that we have seen in the past few weeks."
During this first bilateral visit to India by a British prime minister in nine years, Prime Ministers Blair and Vajpayee will sign a declaration to boost ties. The British Prime Minister will leave for Islamabad on Monday.
Back in Kathmandu, India-Pakistan acrimony continued to cast its long shadows over the South Asian summit as Musharraf's late arrival due to fog led to the postponement of the summit to Saturday amid accusations that the late arrival was engineered by the Nepalese authorities in collusion with India. This kept many heads of State cooling their heels in the
Nepalese capital.
Both Musharraf and Vajpayee meticulously avoided each other yesterday. While Pakistan has expressed its willingness to meet Indian leaders "anywhere, any time," India continues to insist that it will not sit with its neighbor until a conducive atmosphere is created by Pakistan.
According to India this means that Pakistan must stop "cross border terrorism" by arresting leaders of militant organizations active in the Indian part of Kashmir, extraditing 20 persons wanted by India and dismantling militant camps in the Pakistani part of Kashmir.
Pakistan has refused to take action on the Indian list until "actionable proof" is provided. It refuted Indian claims that it has been routinely providing proof to Pakistan.
Islamabad, on its part, has already arrested until yesterday more than 130 militant leaders based on its territory. These include Hafiz Saeed and Azhar Masood, leaders of Lashkar-e Taiba and Jaish-e Muhammad, respectively, which are accused of the attack on the Indian parliament on 13 December which, in turn, triggered the current crisis.
The SAARC summit is suffering as both countries are more busy with explaining their part of the story to the delegates and trying hard to gain friends.
According to Pakistani sources, Islamabad has successfully played the "Chinese Card" to prevent it from facing India in the battlefield, especially after the United States "started sending confusing signals in collusion with New Delhi".
Pakistan leader Gen. Musharraf has visited Beijing twice in a week to demonstrate the special Pakistan-China relationship. A source at the Pakistani foreign ministry said, according to media reports, that the Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxvan called U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and conveyed to him on Thursday night the "desire of the Chinese government to preserve Pakistan's territorial integrity and peace in the region".
Sources added that the message was conveyed after President Musharraf's audience with the Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji.
However, sources said Beijing too seemed to be in conformity with the objectives of the U.S.-led war against terrorism and pleaded Islamabad to continue relentlessly its drive against "unscrupulous elements who resort to militancy in the garb of religion".
A retired Pakistani secretary of defense, according to a Pakistani press report, said that the strategic edge of a friendly China and Pakistan's understanding to resort to the use of nuclear weapons, if attacked, has almost fizzled out the prospects of war in the region.
The source added that other than the Chinese factor, the presence of U.S. armed forces on the Pakistani soil is set to deter any unwarranted act from across the borders.
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