Arrests fail to reduce Indo-Pakistan tension
The threat of war between two south Asian nuclear powers remained alive today, after Pakistan refused to withdraw hundreds of thousands of battle forces assembled on its borders with India unless New Delhi does the same.
The Pakistani stance came just hours after Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes said India would not pull back its own forces from the two countries’ joint border ‘‘until cross-border terrorism is stopped.’’
Hopes of a de-escalation of tensions had risen in the wake of a weekend speech by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf banning five militant Muslim organisations, including two accused of terrorism in Indian-controlled Kashmir and placing other curbs on Islamic extremists.
The speech was coupled with a nationwide police sweep that by today hat led to the arrest of 1,500 extremists.
But, while Indian officials welcomed the move, Fernandes said they were not enough.
’’Any de-escalation would take place only after cross-border terrorism is effectively stopped,’’ said Fernandes.
Indian and Pakistani troops moved to the border, and the Line of Control ceasefire boundary that divides the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir between them, after last month’s attack on India’s Parliament. India has accused Pakistan’s spy agency of sponsoring the attack by two Pakistan-based Islamic militant groups.
Pakistan’s government, and the two groups, denied involvement, but Musharraf banned the two groups on Saturday night, after previously detaining their leaders and many members.
India accuses Pakistan of training, funding, arming, and providing covering fire to Islamic militants who cross the 1,100 mile frontier to make attacks in Kashmir state and elsewhere in India.
In a response to Fernandes, Major General Rashid Quereshi, Musharraf’s spokesman, said ‘‘Pakistan is constrained to keep what it requires for its defence close to the border,’’ as long as the Indian buildup remains in place.
’’We expect the Indian forces to move back to their peacetime position and thereby reduce tensions,’’ he said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Kamran Niaz sought to diffuse disappointment that Musharraf’s speech did not result in an immediate lessening of tensions, alluding to positive comments by Indian leaders in the wake of the speech.
’’We expected a warmer response but we don’t regard their response as negative,’’ he said. ‘‘Pakistan is willing to try all options to work toward the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute.’’
The crackdown on extremists began just hours before the Musharraf speech. Quereshi said today that the operation was close to finished
The largest number of arrests were made in heavily populated Punjab province, where about 800 activists were taken into custody, a police official said. Others were arrested in Sindh and the North West Frontier provinces.
India and Pakistan have massed up to one million troops along their border in the biggest mobilisation since the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell leaves Washington for the region tomorrow to try to defuse the crisis.
