India Patience At 'Breaking Point'
India and Pakistan both say they are ready to fight

May 24, 2002

The European Union's foreign affairs commissioner Chris Patten says India is fast losing patience with Pakistan over Kashmir.

Speaking in Delhi after talks with Indian officials, Mr Patten said the situation was "on a knife-edge" and warned Pakistan to give up supporting terrorism.

No sane person would like to go to war  - Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf

For his part, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf blamed India for the tension and vowed to fight to defend "every inch of Pakistan" if attacked.

India says it has been informed by Pakistan that Islamabad intends to conduct missile tests over the next few days.

Indian officials said the tests were routine and not related to the stand-off over Kashmir.

A leading Indian newspaper, Hindustan Times, earlier reported that Delhi was giving Islamabad two months to stop cross-border attacks in Kashmir before military action was taken.

Hot

Mr Patten described the tension over Kashmir as being "as hot as the weather", and Indian patience as being "beyond breaking point".

He said the Indian authorities wanted to see practical steps by President Musharraf to show that he meant what he said in his speech on 12 January - that any group carrying out terrorism "on the pretext of Kashmir" would be strongly dealt with.

The EU official said he understood Pakistan's concerns and wishes to have dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue.

However he warned Islamabad that it would be "the most profound miscalculation if anybody in Pakistan thought that turning on and off the terrorist tap could be used as an adjunct to diplomacy".

But Mr Musharraf told the BBC's HARDtalk programme that "no sane person would like to go to war" and accused India of having "the capability of undertaking any adventurous act".

Troop movements

About one million troops are estimated to be on either side of the India-Pakistan border.

India began the initial build-up after it said Pakistan had supported a bloody attack on the federal parliament in Delhi last December.

Pakistan, for its part, is considering moving troops from its Afghan border to strengthen its frontier with India.

Mr Musharraf said he would not withdraw Pakistani forces unilaterally.

Grace period

The influential Hindustan Times newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said the two-month notice to Pakistan to take action against Muslim militants infiltrating Indian-administered Kashmir was discussed at a meeting attended by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during his visit to the disputed territory on Thursday.

Kashmir conflict:
* 1947 - India and Pakistan fight first war over disputed region
* 1965 - India blames Pakistan for insurgency, war breaks out again
* 1989 - Insurgency starts in Indian-administered Kashmir
* 1999 - Heavy clashes around Kargil in Indian-administered Kashmir


An Indian Government spokesman contacted by the BBC said the report was "speculative".

But analysts have seen the departure of Mr Vajpayee for a weekend break as a sign that there will be no immediate military operation.

Financial markets in South Asia, which have fallen repeatedly this week, surged back.

The BBC's Gill McGivering says the timing of the reported Indian move is crucial.

Elections are due to be held in Kashmir in a few months' time.

India wants reassurances that Pakistani militant groups will not try to destabilise that process either by putting pressure on indigenous groups not to take part or by increasing violence.

Our correspondent says some analysts also suggest a two-month grace period could also buy India valuable time.

Although large numbers of troops have been deployed along the border since January, the military needs more time to get ready for any large-scale conflict.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_2006000/2006349.stm