Pressure building in bid to avert war

ALMATY - India and Pakistan are coming under intense pressure from Moscow and Beijing in the latest attempts to ease tensions over Kashmir.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Kazakhstan last night for a security conference which is also being attended by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is to hold talks with both leaders and may try to arrange a face-to-face meeting, but India has all but ruled out such a possibility. Vajpayee told reporters "there was no such plan".

Chinese President Jiang Zemin is also due at the summit and wants to see both men.

Russia yesterday criticised last week's tests of nuclear-capable rockets by Islamabad.

"Against the background of the conflict [with India], Pakistan's testing of nuclear rockets was a provocative gesture," Interfax news agency quoted Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying.

"Any testing of nuclear weapons when there is extremely high tension and suspicion, and the placing of armed forces on high alert is wrong and provocative."

Musharraf would not talk to reporters on his arrival.

Vajpayee blamed the tensions on "border terrorism", but made no mention of Pakistan by name.

Troops from both countries are massed along their border in the disputed region of Kashmir, sparking fears of a nuclear conflict.

Vajpayee said he had won support from the Central Asian leader who is playing host this week to the 16-nation security summit.

"We share identical views on what measures should be taken to resolve the crisis" over terrorism, Vajpayee said after meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

His Defence Minister George Fernandes dismissed fears of a nuclear war, saying neither country would be "imprudent" enough to use the weapons.

En route to Kazakhstan, Musharraf insisted that Pakistan would not start a war with India, saying he was prepared for talks with India "anywhere and at any level".

"Pakistan will not start a war. We support solving the conflict through peaceful means."

But Vajpayee said he was not prepared to meet Musharraf until Pakistan-based Islamic militants stopped carrying out attacks in India.

Washington will this week send two envoys - Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage - to try to ease the tensions.

The crisis revolves around Kashmir, which is claimed by India and Pakistan. The dispute has led to two of the three wars between the nations since 1947.

India says Islamic militants crossing the border from Pakistan have carried out terror attacks.

"Can we afford to sit down and talk when at the same time a proxy war is being held ... people are being killed, civilians being killed?" said India's Ambassador to the United Nations, Vijay Nambiar.

Musharraf has insisted he is cracking down on the militants and disputes India's contention that Pakistan helps them.

Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, Maleeha Lodhi, denied that her nation was moving large numbers of troops from the border with Afghanistan, where they are supposed to prevent infiltration by Taleban and al Qaeda terrorists, to Kashmir.

"As yet, no significant movement has taken place, but of course if the situation continues to worsen we will have to move more," she said.

"That's why the international community must act in every possible way to restrain India from trying to follow a military solution."

Foreign nationals are continuing their exodus from India and Pakistan amid concern that the military standoff could escalate into a fully fledged war.

Malaysia has urged non-essential embassy staff and families of its diplomats to leave - following similar decisions by the United States, Britain, France, Israel, South Korea and the United Nations. Kuwait advised its nationals not to travel to India and Pakistan.

- REUTERS

Feature: The Kashmir conflict