Indo-Pakistan conflict would undermine war on terrorism
Indo-Pakistan conflict would undermine war on terrorism
Valentin Kunin, RIA Novosti, Russian News Agency, Moscow
The situation on the Indian-Pakistani border remains tense and potentially explosive. Both countries' troops sporadically exchange fire and shelling.
The troops and materiel concentration in the neighboring areas is growing day by day, while the sides continue to exchange strongly worded statements. For instance, Indian Foreign Defense Minister George Fernandez said the other day that his country's armed forces were ready to strike at Islamic extremists based in the Pakistan-controlled zone of Kashmir. The Pakistani military command has declared its firm intention to respond in kind if Delhi launches large-scale military actions.
The aggravation of bilateral relations followed the assault by five armed terrorists on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. Lashkar-e-Toiba, a Pakistani Kashmir-based extremist organization, claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack. India is accusing Islamabad of backing the terrorists and is demanding that it put an end to the "border terrorism". However, the Pakistani authorities have categorically denied any involvement in the attack on the Indian parliament.
Will Delhi and Islamabad be able to find a way out of the current deadlock and avoid a fourth war in the past 50 years? Recent developments give hope that the common sense will prevail, and the sides will avoid an armed conflict.
Obviously, statements made by radical politicians demanding that a hard line policy towards the neighbor be adopted and any compromise rejected are popular both in India and in Pakistan. Both Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf are under considerable pressure from these forces.
However, both leaders are aware of the danger that can result from a further escalation of the conflict and of the need to look for mutually acceptable solutions. The arrest in Karachi of two extremist leaders: Khafiz Muhammad Saed, the head of Lashkar-e- Taiba and Mazud Azkhar, the head of Jaish-e-Mahammad and around 30 other paramilitary groups activists may be seen as a promising step.
The position of the international community towards the recent aggravation of Indo-Pakistani relations has undoubtedly led to a certain softening of Delhi and Islamabad's stances.
The statement of the G-8 foreign Ministers adopted the other day on a Russian initiative expresses deep concern over the situation in Indo-Pakistani relations. The ministers hope that the two countries will avoid an escalation in tension and resume political dialog in line with the Lahore declaration.
The concern over the tension between Delhi and Islamabad is quite explicable, for it may entail the most dangerous consequences.
Firstly, both states possess nuclear weapons and there is no guarantee that the two sides will restrict themselves to using conventional weapons alone in an armed conflict. Obviously, the consequences in this case would be catastrophic not only for India and Pakistan, but for the entire region and global stability and security as a whole.
Secondly, any aggravation of the Indo-Pakistani conflict will undoubtedly undermine the unity of the anti-terrorist coalition and affect its ability to fight international terrorism.
Thirdly, an Indo-Pakistani conflict cannot but affect the restoration of peace in Afghanistan.
These reasons are more than enough for the world community to do its best to keep Delhi and Islamabad from ill-considered moves, which may provoke an irreversible crisis in their relations.