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Hardline Indian Home Minister Proposes Indo-Pak Confederation
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Pakistani students demonstrate for peace in Karachi
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By IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, June 9 (IslamOnline) - "If East and West Germany could
unite, there was no reason why India and Pakistan could not form a
confederation of their own free will," said India's hard-line
Home Minister L.K. Advani Saturday, June 8, the same day Pakistan
downed a pilotless Indian aircraft and seven hundred thousand Indian
soldiers stood for invading Pakistan at a moment's notice.
"A
day will come when the people of both countries will realize that
partition has done no good to them," said the hawk minister, who
could easily be described as Pakistan's enemy no 1 in India. He was
speaking after launching a monthly journal, South Asia Politics,
in Delhi.
"The
most important thing to move towards a confederation is that all
disputes and problems between India and Pakistan be resolved only
through dialogue and not by violence or terrorism", the home
minister said.
Referring
to an assessment of the U.S. Administration about the possibility of
"revolutionary change" in Indo-Pak relations during the
Lahore bus trip by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said this
could not happen "as the then Pakistan army chief (Pervez
Musharraf) had other things in mind which led to the Kargil war".
There
are signs from both India and Pakistan that things are definitely
moving in the de-escalation direction. India Saturday welcomed the
pledge given by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to the U.S. about
"immediately and permanently" ending cross-border
infiltration of so-called terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir. India
said it was a step in the right direction.
U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, who left India Saturday,
brought this message to India and demanded a quid pro quo which
understandably will come within the next few days, before the arrival
June 11 of U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.
This
reform will probably be in the form of some "diplomatic"
gestures which may mean reversing some measures taken at the beginning
of the escalation like reducing the strength of the Pakistani embassy
staff, recalling the Indian ambassador from Islamabad and later
expelling his Pakistan counterpart in Delhi, and disallowing Pakistani
civil aircraft flights over Indian airspace.
"This
is a step forward and in the right direction," External Affairs
Minister Jaswant Singh told U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on
telephone. Jaswant Singh informed Colin Powell that India welcomes the
pledge that Musharraf has given U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage about "immediately and permanently" ending
cross-border infiltration of militants into Jammu and Kashmir.
Armitage
too said the tensions between the South Asian nuclear-armed rivals had
"eased a bit" and both country's leaders were intent on
avoiding war.
Pakistan
too issued positive signs. Islamabad said Saturday it had noticed a
"very slight reduction in tension" with India as a result of
efforts by the international community. Nevertheless, it sounded
skeptical about New Delhi's proposal for joint patrolling of the LoC.
"It
appears that there is a very slight reduction in tension but the real
de-escalation and reduction in tension will take place only when the
Indian forces deployed on forward positions in an offensive posture
are withdrawn from the borders," Foreign Office spokesman Aziz
Ahmed Khan told the BBC. "We are gratified that the international
community is paying attention and they are trying to defuse the
situation and reduce tension," he added.
Pakistan's
downing of an unmanned Indian aircraft over its territory does not
seem to have had any effect. India called it a "routine"
flight. Last year, India downed a Pakistan "Atlantique" spy
plane which violated the Indian airspace.
According
to Pakistani sources, the downed unmanned Indian 'spy' plane was
carrying an Israeli-made camera.
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Border
migrants in a camp near Jammu in India
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Pakistan
has also shown some enthusiasm for India's offer of joint patrolling
of the Line of Control in Kashmir. It has termed the proposal as
"serious" and wanted New Delhi to present it
"formally." The proposal made by the Indian Prime Minister
Thursday, June 6, appeared to be "beginning of dialogue" and
Islamabad wanted New Delhi to present it through diplomatic channels
formally, Pakistan's Information Minister Nisar Memon said.
India,
on the other hand, has quietly asked the U.S. to inspect what it
describes as "suspected terrorist camps" in
Pakistan-administered Kashmir. "In a very informal sense, we have
conveyed to the Americans that if they verify the camps are closed, we
are going to believe them," a senior Indian intelligence official
was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times Saturday
in a report from New Delhi.
U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has delayed his visit by a few days.
Analysts say that the Americans are trying to prolong the parleys as
long as possible so as to consume most time before the monsoon season
which will start here at the end of the current month. In other words,
if parleys keep them busy until the end of the third week there will
be no immediate danger of war. India reportedly planned to go to war
for "a week" at the middle of this month.
According
to the alleged scenario, international pressure and U.N. intervention
would save the day and at the end of a week of fighting India would
have accomplished its goal of destroying the Fedayeen
(resistance) camps in Azad Kashmir in addition to hitting some vital
military and economic facilities in Pakistan enough to set back
Pakistan "thirty years".
This
became a strong possibility when President Musharraf, under western
pressure, ruled out the "first-use-option" of nuclear
weapons which alone has deterred India during the height of the
current tension. Without the nuclear factor, India enjoys clear
advantage over Pakistan in the traditional warfare.
The
international community has tried to bring home to the leaders of the
two countries the possible devastating effects on both countries and
the region of the use of nuclear weapons. U.S. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld will be accompanied by an American expert on nuclear
weapons during his talks with the leadership of the two countries.
Adm.
James Ellis, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Strategic Command, will
accompany Rumsfeld during his meetings with President Musharraf in
Islamabad and Prime Minister Vajpayee in New Delhi. Ellis is a senior
military official with detailed knowledge of Pakistan and India's
nuclear capabilities.
The
United States said Friday, June 7, that it has "growing
indications that infiltration across the Line of Control is down
significantly" and looked forward to India taking feasible and
concrete steps to lower tensions with Pakistan, according to the State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
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U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Armitage with the Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh |
Meanwhile,
three civilians, including two women, were killed and seven injured in
unabated shelling and firing by Pakistani troops from across the Line
of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in Jammu division since
Friday, official sources said today. Two persons, including a woman,
were killed and another woman was injured when Pakistani troops
targeted Sagara village in Balnoi-Mendhar area with mortar bombs
Friday night, the sources said.
Exchange
of mortar shelling and heavy firing between the two sides was also
reported from Mangalnar, Pathrar, Bhawani and Noushera areas of
Rajouri district and Swajian, Gagrian and Poonch town in Poonch
district since Friday evening, they said. Intermittent exchange of
light arms firing took place at 49 places along the IB in Jammu and
Kathua districts during the last 24 hours, they added.
In
separate incidents, eight persons, including three army personnel and
four village defense committee members (VDC), were killed by militants
since Friday night, while a bomb planted in a bus was defused in Jammu
region. Three army personnel were killed in an encounter with
militants at Sultanpathri in Loran-Mandi area of Poonch district this
morning while body of a woman was found near Udhaywalla in Jammu
district, sources said.
More
than one hundred and fifty thousand (0.150 m) people have so far
migrated from border villages of Kathua, Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch
districts in Jammu division due to shelling and firing by Pakistani
troops since last month. Jammu and Kashmir chief secretary IS Malhi
said Friday that a new relief package was being implemented for border
migrants from this month.
Jammu
and Kashmir's oldest and premier pro-independence group, Jammu &
Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Friday urged the world community to
get the dispute of Kashmir resolved between India and Pakistan to end
the fears of atomic war in the region permanently, according to a
press statement by the JKLF issued at Srinagar.
"It
is encouraging that world community is trying its best to prevent an
atomic war in the region," the release said. "But fears of
atomic war can be permanently banished if the issue of Kashmir is
resolved as per the wishes and aspirations of the people." The
group's chairman, Yasin Malik, is at present in prison.
On Friday, police arrested Hurriyat Conference leader
Syed Ali Geelani to stop him from leading an anti-election rally at
Patan, 27 kilometers north of Srinagar. Geelani is one of the seven
executive members of Kashmir's main separatist alliance.
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