INDIA: The US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, rowed back yesterday on earlier comments that al-Qaeda cadres were present in disputed Kashmir state, claiming he had no "firm evidence" to back his claims.
"We do have scraps of intelligence that have come in from people saying that they believe al-Qaeda are in Kashmir or in various locations.
"It tends to be speculative, it is not actionable; it is not verifiable," he told a press conference in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, after meeting President Pervez Musharraf.
Mr Rumsfeld said that links between US and Pakistan on the subject of al-Qaeda was "so close, so intimate and so co-operative" that if there happened to be any actionable intelligence about it anywhere in this country, he had no doubts that the Islamabad government would "find them and deal with them".
On Wednesday, Mr Rumsfeld, who is visiting the region to defuse the military stand-off between India and Pakistan, told reporters in New Delhi there were "indications" that al-Qaeda agents were working in Kashmir, where an Islamic separatist struggle for a Muslim homeland has been raging for nearly 13 years.
India blames Pakistan for fuelling the Kashmiri insurgency that has claimed 35,000 lives, and by exerting military pressure has extracted an assurance from Gen Musharraf that Islamabad will permanently stop cross-border militant movement.
However, Mr Rumsfeld's remarks in Delhi about the al-Qaeda in Kashmir triggered a sharp reaction from Pakistan.
A presidential spokesman said he didn't know where the US got this information. It seemed they believed Indian propaganda, he added.
Delhi claims that more than 3,000 militants, including al- Qaeda operatives, are waiting in Pakistan-administered Kashmir to infiltrate Indian territory.
Mr Rumsfeld said India and Pakistan should solve their problems bilaterally without any international intervention.
He suggested they begin a dialogue process to reduce tension. "The two countries need to talk to each other. They need to have diplomatic relations and ways of communicating to each other about issues like road, rail and air communication," he said; the two sides had to find "ways to communicate" on the significant issue of Kashmir.
The US defence secretary said a military de-escalation was expected.
One million Indian and Pakistan soldiers have been locked in a stand-off along their 2,000-mile common frontier for more than six months, following the suicide attack by five gunmen on Delhi's parliament that was blamed on Islamabad.
Tension escalated last month after a militant strike on an Indian garrison in Kashmir in which 31 people, mostly soldiers' family members, were shot dead.
Meanwhile, the G8 members meeting in Canada signalled to Pakistan and India that there would be no let up in the pace of an international peace drive to prevent them going to war.
Ministers also debated who next to send on a south Asian peace mission, as efforts persist to prevent war between the nuclear armed rivals.
The G8 comprises Canada, the US, Russia, Britain, Italy, France, Germany and Japan.
