Pakistan slams India as navy dead buried<\/p>\n
KARACHI (Agencies): Pakistan on Thursday buried its dead from
\nthe downing of a navy patrol plane by India and Prime Minister
\nNawaz Sharif turned up the rhetoric on what he called New Delhi's
\n\"barbaric\" and \"cowardly\" act.<\/p>\n
\"It was a very barbaric act and I think it was also a very
\ncowardly act,\" Sharif told reporters after offering Islamic
\nprayers at the somber funeral ceremony for the 16 officers and
\nsailors killed in the incident.<\/p>\n
Sharif also said Tuesday's downing of the reconnaissance plane
\nby Indian jets near a disputed stretch of border in marshes near
\nthe Arabian Sea would make peace talks between the nuclear-
\ncapable countries more difficult.<\/p>\n
\"It will complicate the matter,\" Sharif said when asked how
\nthe incident would affect peace talks, already set back by the
\nrivals' recent dispute in divided Kashmir.<\/p>\n
\"This is a very serious violation of all principles, all
\ninternational laws and agreements,\" he said after the emotional
\nceremony for the crew at a Karachi naval base where the flower-
\ncovered and flag-draped coffins were displayed.<\/p>\n
In New Delhi, Defense Minister George Fernandes said he did
\nnot believe India and Pakistan were on the brink of war, but
\nadded peace talks could not resume until the tension died down.<\/p>\n
\"I don't think the situation is spiraling out of control,\" he
\ntold reporters. \"We are not on the brink of war. I don't think
\ntalks can start until the situation improves.\"<\/p>\n
The downing of the Pakistani plane also brought a vow of
\nrevenge from a Kashmiri militant group on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\"Mujahideen (holy warriors) will definitely take revenge from
\nIndia and the revenge would be such that India will remember for
\nyears to come,\" Sayed Salahuddin, the supreme commander of Hizb-
\nul-Mujahideen, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Salahuddin, who heads one of the largest groups fighting
\nIndian rule of Kashmir, said the air attack was \"an act of
\ncowardice\".<\/p>\n
The incident came a month after India and Pakistan were close
\nto the brink of their fourth war after Pakistani infiltrators
\ncaptured strategic heights on the Indian side of northern Kashmir
\nand New Delhi launched air and ground attacks to flush them out.<\/p>\n
Sharif disputed New Delhi statements that the plane was downed
\nin Indian territory after acting in an aggressive manner.<\/p>\n
\"I think they shot down a plane which had no capability of
\ndoing anything aggressive and it didn't violate Indian airspace,
\nSo it was very cowardly,\" he said.<\/p>\n
India says the French-made Berguet Atlantique plane was shot
\ndown when it strayed into its territory, while Islamabad says it
\nwas on a training mission and was fired upon inside Pakistan two
\nkm from the border with India.<\/p>\n
Pakistan flew military attaches from more than a dozen
\nembassies out to the crash site on Thursday, a day after Pakistan
\nsaid it fired missiles at Indian aircraft attempting to approach
\nthe area. It denied a New Delhi charge that it fired on
\nhelicopters carrying journalists to the area.<\/p>\n
A guerrilla group fighting in Indian Kashmir vowed on Thursday
\nto avenge the loss of 16 Pakistani navy personnel killed aboard
\nan aircraft downed by Indian jets this week.<\/p>\n
\"We will take revenge in Indian-occupied Kashmir in a manner
\nthat New Delhi will remember for years,\" the Hizbul Mujahideen
\ngroup said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Its commander Syed Salahuddin condemned what he called a
\n\"cowardly act.\"<\/p>\n
\"Such mean steps are the result of the frustration of the
\npolitical and military leadership in India following the
\nhumiliation faced by them recently in Kargil,\" Salahuddin said.
\n`Indian forces fought hundreds of guerrillas allegedly backed by
\nPakistan in the Kargil region of the Indian sector of Kashmir
\nfrom early May to mid-July to regain strategic heights.<\/p>",
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