PAKISTAN/INDIA: With Pakistan and India poised for war, Islamabad further raised tensions yesterday by notifying New Delhi of its plans to conduct short- and medium-range missile tests, starting today.
"Pakistan has notified a number of countries about this, including India, Iran and the US, as is the accepted practice," a Pakistani government spokesman said in Islamabad. The tests, scheduled for May 25th and 28th, had nothing to do with the current situation, he added.
Earlier this year, India had successfully test-fired a short-range variant of its nuclear-capable intermediate range ballistic missile to a range of 700 km, prompting Pakistani condemnations.
India's Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, had said that testing the Agni missile, which forms part of the country's nuclear deterrent, was "one of several steps" to ensure national security.
Pakistan's proposed tests come at a time when over one million Indian and Pakistani soldiers, backed by air force fighters and naval warships, are amassed along their common 2000-mile long frontier.
Tensions soared after last week's militant attack on the families of soldiers at an army camp in Kashmir's winter capital Jammu, in which 31 people died.
India blames Pakistan's military junta for masterminding the attack. On Wednesday, Mr Vajpayee told soldiers close to the Pakistani border in Kashmir to be ready for decisive action. But yesterday he left for the northern Himalayan resort of Manali for a week-long summer break.
The two armies, however, continue trading artillery and mortar fire along the line of control that divides Kashmir between them. This daily exchange has claimed over 40 lives in both countries and led to nearly 50,000 border residents fleeing their homes.
India has refused to withdraw its troops till Pakistan stops fuelling Kashmir's 13-year-old civil war by backing Muslim insurgents. Pakistan denies India's charges, saying it provides Kashmiri militants only moral, diplomatic and political support.
Meanwhile, the US, desperately trying to avoid an India-Pakistan conflict, yesterday asked Islamabad to end militant infiltration into Kashmir. "An important component to this process is an end to infiltration into Kashmir, and as we have done before, we call upon Pakistan to do all it can to achieve this objective," US State Department Spokesman Mr Philip Reeker told reporters in Washington.
"We understand India's frustrations and anger over continued terrorist actions, but would reiterate that rather than being the solution, military action in this crisis would create even greater problems," Mr Reeker added. He also announced that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage would be visiting Islamabad and New Delhi on June 4th.
In the flurry of diplomatic visits by several Western leaders, Mr Chris Patten, the EU's External Affairs Commissioner, met senior officials in Delhi.
Mr Patten, who arrived from Islamabad, asked Pakistan to fulfil its commitment in implementing UN resolutions against terrorism and appealed to its president, Gen Pervez Musharraf to fulfill his pledge made earlier this year to crack down on militants.