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Blair Attempts to Defuse Pak-Indian Crisis
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| Blair, on a peace mission: Will he succeed? |
Report By Aamir Latif
ISLAMABAD, Jan. 7 (IslamOnline) - British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, air-dashed Pakistan from India Monday, in a bid to defuse a standoff between the two
nuclear-armed rivals, who have been exchanging on-and-off fire across their disputed Kashmir border ever since the December 3 suicide attack on the Indian parliament.
Diplomatic sources in Islamabad believe that Blair will also try to convince Pakistani President, General Pervez Musharaff, to continue logistic support to the U.S. and its allies in their war against Afghanistan.
In the wake of the mounting Indian build-up, Pakistan has threatened that it might withdraw its logistic support to the U.S. troops, as it needs its forces at the eastern borders.
Blair is expected to press Pakistan to step up efforts against militants battling Indian rule in Kashmir.
Pakistan says it is ready to talk with India. Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aziz Ahmed Khan, said he hoped Blair's visit could help defuse the standoff.
As Blair was in Pakistan on the last leg of a South Asian diplomatic swing, India ruled out any immediate talks with Pakistan and said Islamabad first had to
change its attitude to attacks being carried out by what it termed as “Islamic militants” on Indian soil.
Indian Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, said India was “more than
satisfied'' with Blair's visit to New Delhi.
Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, met at the weekend and shook hands at a South Asian economic summit in Nepal, but failed to reach any agreement.
The two neighbors have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two over India's only Muslim-majority state of Kashmir. The military buildup at their borders is the biggest since India staged exercises there in 1987.
Pakistani officials said some 20,000 villagers had fled their homes in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir over the last week, fearing that the standoff between the two foes would develop into a bigger conflict.
Police in Azad Kashmir said Indian forces engaged in what has become almost daily firefights, with artillery and small arms in the Rawalakot district Monday
morning.
One Pakistani civilian driver was wounded by Indian fire near a cease-fire line separating the two sides in Kashmir late Sunday, 6 January.
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