Pakistan sends key troops to Kashmir

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan said late last night that it has begun moving soldiers from the Afghan border to Kashmir, where it and India have already amassed a million troops.

In a signal that the standoff between the two nuclear neighbours is reaching breaking point, Islamabad said it was moving the troops from its western border, where they have been involved in the US-led war on terrorism, to reinforce those in the east.

Also late last night, Indian security forces killed two suspected Muslim separatist militants, ending a siege in a police camp in Doda, Kashmir. The militants had earlier charged into the camp, shooting three policemen dead.

In the United States, USA Today reported that the US Government is drawing up plans for a mass evacuation of 64,000 Americans from India and Pakistan.

A US Government team is in India working on a contingency plan to evacuate 1100 US troops on three bases in Pakistan and up to 63,000 US citizens in both countries, the newspaper reported.

US State Department officials are working with officials from the US military's Pacific Command on plans for a massive airlift of American civilians, the paper reported, citing an unnamed Pentagon official with access to the plan.

A State Department spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

However, asked if a team from Washington was in India preparing an evacuation plan, a US Embassy spokesman in New Delhi said: "No".

On whether the embassy was preparing a contingency plan to evacuate US citizens, he said: "Every embassy in the world has contingency plans for an evacuation. That is a Standard Operating Procedure."

Yesterday's assault on the police camp in Doda came two weeks after three men, identified by India as Pakistan-based militants, raided an Army camp in Kashmir and killed more than 30 people before being shot dead.

The standoff between India and Pakistan was sparked by a December raid on the Indian Parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants fighting its rule in Jammu and Kashmir.

Though incidents such as the police camp assault are common in Kashmir - where India faces a 12-year-old revolt against its rule - the latest raid added to tension. India and Pakistan have exchanged regular artillery and mortar fire along their border in recent weeks, and shelling in the past day has killed at least 17 people and wounded 22.

"There is a danger that as tensions escalate the leaders could find themselves in a situation in which irresponsible elements can spark a conflict," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington.

"The climate is very charged and a serious conflagration could ensue if events spiral out of control."

His words were echoed yesterday by Australia's Defence Minister, Robert Hill, who warned that the standoff could still blow up into a major conflict.

"It's on the edge again with a real risk of escalating and a real risk of going beyond the brink.

"Nuclear-weapon states simply can't afford to engage in limited conflict, the risk is just disproportionate."

The Doda raid came hours after British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw ended his peace mission to South Asia. He said the risk of war was high but conflict not inevitable. The two countries have fought three wars since 1947, including two over Kashmir.

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will visit India and Pakistan on June 6 and 7 on a mission to attempt to defuse the crisis.

US networks ABC and NBC reported yesterday that US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also might be dispatched to the region to try to head off a war.

Analysts say tough talk from Indian and Pakistani leaders may mask efforts to find a face-saving way to back away from conflict while keeping hawks on side and maintaining political support.

At the United Nations yesterday, on his second day in the job, Pakistan's UN Ambassador said ruling out his country's use of nuclear arms would give India a "licence to kill" Pakistanis.

Munir Akram said that while Pakistan would not attack India unless it was first attacked, it had never subscribed to a doctrine of "no first use" of nuclear arms.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan said the central bank was confident of handling any borrowing needed to fund its military.

Jalan declined to say how much the regional tension was costing the Indian economy.

Britain and Japan, part of an international peace offensive, said Pakistan genuinely wanted to meet Indian demands and stop Muslim militants launching raids into Indian territory.

India, which has warned world leaders over the phone and visiting envoys that its patience is running out, said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has had enough time to act.

"General Musharraf has had all the time he wants. It is vital that he recognise the urgency of the situation," Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh told reporters after talks with Straw.

Straw said Musharraf wanted to honour his pledge to stop the militants slipping into Indian Kashmir.

"I believe that General Musharraf is serious," Straw said. "The test of all these things has to be action, not just words."

India has said there could be neither peace talks nor any scaling down of its military build-up until it saw clear evidence Pakistan had moved against the militants and closed down rebel camps in Kashmir.

It also said there were no plans for Indian PM Atal Behari Vajpayee to meet Musharraf on the sidelines of a regional summit in Kazakhstan next week.

- REUTERS