Nuclear rivals stick to their guns

ALMATY - Indian and Pakistani leaders sat down at the same table for the first time in five months last night, but stuck to the same positions over Kashmir that have brought the two nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of war.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said his country was ready to talk to Pakistan over Kashmir, a flashpoint for tensions between the two rivals, but he insisted cross-border incursions had to stop first.

"We have repeatedly said that we are willing to discuss all issues with Pakistan, including Jammu and Kashmir, but for that, cross-border terrorism has to end," Vajpayee told the opening of an Asian security summit in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Earlier, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf pledged his country would not start a war with India.

"We do not want war. We will not initiate war. But if war is imposed on us, we will defend ourselves with the utmost resolution and determination."

India blames bloody attacks on its Parliament in December and on an Army camp in Kashmir last month on Islamic militants based in Pakistan, and has demanded an end to infiltrations.

Pakistan denies it supports the militants and has vowed to crack down on cross-border incursions.

Russia and China planned separate talks with India and Pakistan last night in a bid to defuse a crisis some countries fear could spill over into a nuclear war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, mindful of strategic interests such as possible routes for oil and gas pipelines, has led the latest mediation efforts between India and Pakistan.

Putin said the feud was destabilising the entire sub-continent and causing "deep concern".

China's President Jiang Zemin is keen to cool regional tensions too.

Russia enjoys traditionally warm ties with India, while China has close relations with Pakistan.

It was still unclear whether Musharraf and Vajpayee would meet face-to-face at the summit.

Musharraf acknowledged that high tension along Pakistan's border with India had stirred "deep fears in South Asia and around the world over the real possibility of conflict".

Indirectly denying that Pakistan was supporting Muslim insurgents operating in India-controlled Kashmir, Musharraf said: "Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used for any terrorist acts outside or inside its boundaries."

But he added: "Similarly, we cannot condone for any reason the rapacious policies of certain states that forcibly occupy territories or deny freedom to peoples for decades on end, with total disdain for ... decisions of the United Nations."

Vajpayee said: "It [terrorism] has emerged as the greatest adversary of peace, security, democracy and multi-confessional societies in Asia and the whole world. Experience shows that terror has no respect for borders or lines of control."

In Kiev, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he hoped the summit could bring India and Pakistan back "from the brink", even if Musharraf and Vajpayee do not meet face-to-face.

In Barbados, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was pleased India and Pakistan recognised the "horrible" dangers of nuclear weapons.

He insisted Washington would maintain diplomatic pressure to keep the two adversaries from war.

The countries have massed a million troops along their border. Indian and Pakistani soldiers unleashed fresh artillery and gunfire in Kashmir yesterday, a day after eight civilians were killed by shelling, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

India plans a blackout exercise and flights by fighter jets in Indian Kashmir overnight to brace people for a possible aerial attack by Pakistan, police said.

Officials have told residents of Jammu, winter capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, to switch off all lights for an hour as Indian Air Force jets fly over the city.

The aim "is to keep people mentally prepared for a sudden aerial attack from across the border", a senior police official said in Jammu.

"The mock exercise is being conducted in collaboration with the Indian Air Force."

- REUTERS

Feature: The Kashmir conflict