U.S. to Press India and Pakistan as Fears Rise

May 13, 2002
By Terry Friel

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca arrives in New Delhi on Tuesday on a new round of shuttle diplomacy analysts say is a sign of Washington's increasing concern over tensions between New Delhi and Pakistan.

Her third visit since March comes as Indian intelligence agencies prepare a crucial report on Islamic militants slipping into disputed Kashmir from Pakistan, the issue which has sparked a massive five-month military stand off between the nuclear powers.

Indian officials say that despite Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's promises of action, there has been no drop-off in infiltrations by anti-Indian rebels, raising the prospect of New Delhi stepping up its pressure on Islamabad.

"The reading in Washington is that the snows in Kashmir have melted but there appears to be no decline in the infiltration of terrorists from across the border, an ominous development that could force India's hand," commentator Chidanand Rajghatta wrote in the Times of India national daily on Monday.

Rocca, assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, is due to meet Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh and other senior Indian officials before heading to Pakistan on Wednesday for talks with Musharraf.

TOP LEVEL TALKS

Secretary of State Colin Powell phoned Singh and Musharraf last week to discuss tensions in Kashmir, particularly along the cease-fire line dividing Pakistani and Indian forces.

India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, have been locked in a tense standoff since a December 13 raid on India's parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistani-based Kashmiri rebels.

More than a million men have been massed along the border, backed by warplanes, tanks and missile batteries.

Millions of land mines have also been planted, bringing agriculture to a halt in key areas.

Almost a dozen militant groups are fighting mainly Hindu India's rule in its only Muslim-majority state, seeking Kashmir's independence or its merger into Islamic Pakistan.

India accuses Pakistan of stoking the rebellion by arming militants and sending them across the border.

Pakistan denies the charge, saying it only provides political and moral support for what it calls the Kashmiri struggle for self-determination. Musharraf banned several militant groups in the wake of the attack on the Indian parliament.

The tension complicates U.S. policy in South Asia because Washington wants the two countries to cooperate with each other in its war on terrorism.

ELECTION FEAR

It needs Pakistani help against al Qaeda remnants, linked with Kashmiri militants, concentrations of whom are in western Pakistan. Washington blames Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda for the September 11 attacks on the United States.

And it sees India as a long-term strategic ally and anchor in the region after years of estrangement during the cold war. Indian and U.S. troops launched a joint military exercise in northern India on Saturday, their biggest in nearly 40 years.

Fears of mounting violence in the Himalayan valley are also being stoked by plans for state elections due this year and expected in September or October.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Saturday India would do everything needed to prevent the polls being sabotaged by militants.

"Their sponsors and the rest of the world should be warned that we shall do everything necessary to prevent violence or coercive measures from sabotaging the conduct of elections in Jammu and Kashmir," he said in a speech.

India controls about 45 percent of Kashmir, Pakistan a third and China the rest.

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