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Pakistan-India Tensions Continue After Summit Ends
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Pakistanis dismiss war possibility
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KATHMANDU, Jan. 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A regional summit of South Asian leaders has ended in Nepal, with no sign of any breakthrough in the tense military stand-off between India and Pakistan.
Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Pakistani President, General Pervez Musharraf, shook hands for a second time at the end of the conference, but they did not hold any face-to-face talks, the BBC’s online news service reported.
Musharraf told a news conference later that he and Vajpayee had "an informal interaction" and that tensions "may not have been eased but they haven't worsened."
Vajpayee, said he had exchanged "courtesies" with the Pakistani leader, but they had not held talks.
As troops continued to confront each other across the Indian-Pakistani border, Vajpayee was returning to Delhi for talks with the visiting British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
Blair is due to travel to Pakistan later for a meeting with the Pakistani leader.
In a closing speech at the summit, Musharraf reiterated his plea that differences between regional countries should be settled bilaterally.
However, the government in New Delhi argues that Islamabad still has not done enough to stop what it calls terrorists from operating in India.
India has publicly ruled out any dialogue until Pakistan cracks down on the Kashmiri resistance fighters that New Delhi blames for a suicide attack on the Indian parliament last month.
At the close of the summit, the Indian and Pakistani leaders joined the other regional heads of state to sign a declaration condemning terrorism.
The two-day meeting ended on a warm note when Vajpayee returned Musharraf’s earlier goodwill gesture by initiating another handshake.
Vajpayee had cautiously welcomed Pakistan's offer Saturday of a "hand of friendship," but Indian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Nirupama Rao, called it "grandstanding" and "theatrics for television".
While the two leaders did not meet separately, diplomatic sources said Pakistan’s Foreign Ministers, Abdul Sattar, and his Indian counterpart, Jaswant Singh, held talks Saturday.
But Indian officials downplayed the talks, saying there was no "separate substantive meeting" and the discussions were "in the context" of the regional bloc, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
With no sign of a resolution to the crisis in sight, civilians on both sides of the Kashmir Line of Control have continued to flee their homes for fear of an outbreak of war.
The Commissioner for Relief in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir said at least 50,000 people had fled, while officials in the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan also reported that villagers were moving their families to safety.
The military build-up is considered to be one of the most dangerous since the two states won independence from Britain in 1947, with troops exchanging fire almost daily.
The Indian army claimed Saturday that four border villages in the district of Poonch had come under mortar attack.
Pakistani officials said one man was wounded and another killed overnight when Indian troops fired on villages in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
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