India, Pakistan dig in heels as Rumsfeld visit looms
India, Pakistan dig in heels as Rumsfeld visit looms
Bill Tarrant and Myra MacDonald, Reuters, Islamabad/New Delhi
India and Pakistan showed no sign of compromise on Wednesday in a
stand-off over Kashmir that has brought the nuclear-armed foes to
the brink of war, as the United States prepared fresh diplomatic
efforts to ease tension.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said he would
consider joint patrols of the Kashmir border if Pakistan ends the
incursion of guerrillas that has stoked a 12-year rebellion in
India's only Muslim-majority state.
But Pakistan's foreign ministry immediately dismissed the
proposal as old hat, adding the suggestion was "unlikely to
work".
India also said it saw no sign that cross border infiltration
by Kashmiri separatists had ended -- despite claims from the main
separatist group that no incursions were taking place -- and both
sides traded artillery and mortar fire and used armored vehicles
against each other for the first time in this conflict.
Vajpayee, in Kazakhstan for a regional security meeting,
declined to meet Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf while
there, saying he would only do so once India sees a conclusive
end to the infiltrations.
His defense minister, George Fernandes, said there were no
signs of that so far.
"Whatever information has so far been coming, it does not
indicate there has been any substantial or noticeable reduction
in infiltration," Fernandes told reporters in Bangalore.
Vajpayee said Islamabad must also dismantle militant camps on
the Pakistani side of the line.
"Our stand is clear," he told a news conference following the
security summit. "We want to resolve all issues through bilateral
talks including Kashmir, (but) cross-border terrorism must stop
before any talks can begin."
Pakistan maintains there is no infiltration across the Line of
Control that divides Kashmir and has called for independent
observers, such UN monitors, to be allowed to verify this.
"We refuse to accept the Indian claim of being the accusers as
well as the judges. If they are the accusers, let there be
somebody else to act as the judge," Pakistan President Pervez
Musharraf told CNN in an interview.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will visit India and Pakistan in the
coming days in a last-ditch effort to prevent the skirmishing in
Kashmir from escalating into the fourth war between the old foes.
Pakistan on Wednesday also ordered the expulsion of an Indian
diplomat after accusing him of spying. Both sides have already
significantly reduced their staff in the other country and
frequently engage in tit-for-tat expulsions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met the Indian and Pakistani
leaders separately in Almaty. He said afterwards they had sent
"very positive signals" but differed on preconditions for talks.
Musharraf said he had accepted an invitation to visit Moscow
and added he had expected Putin to invite Vajpayee too, but the
Russian president did not mention an invitation to the Indian
prime minister.