Kashmir attack deepens war fears

By ANNE BESTON and AGENCIES

Fears of an all-out conflict between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan remain high after the death of an Indian woman last night in a Pakistani mortar attack on a Kashmir village.

The fresh fighting between Indian and Pakistani troops came as Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ruled out talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at a regional conference in central Asia to ease tensions.

The two men last met for a tense handshake and a few words at a South Asian summit on Kathmandu in January.

Last night families of New Zealand High Commission staff in India were evacuating the country.

Speaking from New Delhi last night, New Zealand High Commissioner Caroline McDonald said she and her staff had commercial airline seats booked and passports at the ready but were reluctant to leave any New Zealanders behind.

"I guess it will be a judgment at what point we say, okay, it's your decision to stay and we now have to leave ... but I do hope it doesn't come to that."

Ms McDonald said commission staff were still trying to contact about 30 of the estimated 210 New Zealanders in India.

"We really want to get the message out to people to use commercial flights to leave India and I guess if people need to make an assessment about that, then our own High Commission families have either left or are about to leave," she said.

More than a million troops have massed along the Pakistan-India border as the two countries remain locked in a tense standoff over the disputed Kashmir region, sparking fears of a fourth war.

Ms McDonald described the situation as "tense and unpredictable".

She said New Zealanders in India had to realise that if they didn't leave, there might not be much hope of rescuing them.

"If there was a sudden escalation, then airports and airspace could be closed."

The US, France, Japan and Britain have all told their nationals to get out of Pakistan and India. Britain has drawn up plans for a massive emergency evacuation.

British Airways has a fleet of 747s on standby if commercial flights are not able to cope with demand. Reports were coming through yesterday of foreigners scrambling for airline seats and some Britons being told they would have to wait a month to fly out of India.

Some hope of eased tension emerged yesterday as Kashmiri rebels appeared to have stopped infiltrating Indian-held Kashmir under instructions from Islamabad.

India has demanded Pakistan fulfil a promise to end support for what it calls "cross-border terrorism", and the US has asked President Musharraf to do more to prevent militants crossing from Pakistan.

Kashmiri separatist sources in Muzaffarabad, in Pakistani Kashmir, said they had got the message.

In a tearful speech yesterday, Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes told regional security officials that his country would not be "impulsive" in its standoff with Pakistan, but would be steadfast in the fight against terrorism.

Later, Fernandes played down concerns that the current conflict could spin out of control.

"We don't see the makings of any kind of an escalation that takes one to the extreme," he said.

"India will not get drawn into a nuclear arms race."