Frantic moves to avert India-Pakistan war

SINGAPORE - War between India and Pakistan would be devastating and would set back much-improved relations between Washington and the two foes, says US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

"It would be tragic to see both of these positive opportunities destroyed by a war that would be devastating for everybody," he told a news conference in Singapore where he is attending a regional security conference.

India and Pakistan have massed more than one million troops along their border after a series of militant attacks in India which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based insurgents.

The US, Britain and other nations are working feverishly to ease tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours and Wolfowitz was to meet India's Defence Minister, George Fernandes, today.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage are due to visit India and Pakistan next week to try to cool the situation.



US officials said they were studying plans for a mass evacuation if needed to protect an estimated 60,000 Americans in the two countries.

While Washington is leaning on both sides to ease tensions, US President George W. Bush emphasised that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf must stop incursions by Pakistan-based militants into Indian Kashmir. The Himalayan region was the flashpoint for two of the three wars the two countries have fought since 1947.

"We are making it very clear to both Pakistan and India that war will not serve their interest," said Bush after a cabinet meeting at the White House.

"We are a part of an international coalition applying pressure to both parties, particularly to President Musharraf.

"He must stop the incursions across the Line of Control. He must do so. He said he would do so. We and others are making it clear to him that he must live up to his word."

The Line of Control is a military demarcation that divides Kashmir.

One US official suggested that Rumsfeld may have greater influence with the military on both sides.

"You have different constituencies, different relationships there," said the official, who asked not to be identified.

"You want to talk to all elements of the Indian and Pakistani Governments."

Pakistan said earlier it was considering moving some troops from its Afghan border to bolster its forces facing India in the east.

US officials have made clear they do not want that to happen, fearing it will undermine efforts to hunt down al Qaeda and Taleban forces believed to have fled to Pakistan.

Bush warned al Qaeda, which the United States blames for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, not to expect any advantage from any possible India-Pakistan conflict.

"We are doing everything we can to continue to shore up our efforts ... on the Pakistani-Afghan border," Bush said.

"And they shouldn't think they're going to gain any advantage as a result of any conflict ... or talk of conflict between India and Pakistan because we're still going to hunt them down."

Rumsfeld said the number of Pakistan battalions along the Afghan border had not changed. If Pakistan pulled troops away, he said, "we'd have to be more attentive inside Afghanistan".

Asked if he was preparing to activate plans to evacuate US citizens, Bush said Secretary of State Colin Powell and Rumsfeld were "analysing what it would take to protect American lives if need be".

A US State Department official said Washington was close to a decision on whether to offer embassy personnel in India free flights home.

- REUTERS