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Date Posted: 14:45:43 01/02/02 Wed
Author: BBC Reporter
Subject: KATMANDU, Nepal

Wednesday, January 2, 2002; 2:20 PM


KATMANDU, Nepal –– Breaking weeks of tension, the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan shook hands and smiled on Wednesday, hinting that diplomatic talks could ease the crisis that has prompted a build-up of troops on their border.

But the lighter mood was marred by violence in Kashmir, the Himalayan territory divided between the two nations. Suspected Islamic militants detonated two grenades near the legislature in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian-ruled portion, killing one policeman and wounding at least 24 other people, police said.

In southern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani forces traded fire across the disputed border – a more intense version of what is a common occurrence even in calmer times. India said it killed at least five Pakistani soldiers and destroyed as many as 19 of their bunkers during the fighting.

With Islamabad under U.S. and Indian pressure to crack down on Islamic militants, Pakistani police in recent days have arrested 50 members of the two militant groups blamed by India for a Dec. 13 attack on Parliament in New Delhi, officials from the groups said Wednesday. That attack sent tensions spiraling between the nuclear-armed rivals.

It was not known whether those arrested from the groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba included militants India says were directly involved in the Parliament attack or from a list of 20 "terrorists" New Delhi demands Islamabad extradite.

At a conference room in Katmandu, Nepal, Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar shook hands, spoke amiably and smiled Wednesday during a meeting of South Asian nations.

"The ice is melting," Pakistani government spokesman Ashfaq Ahmad Gondal said after the Cabinet ministers of seven nations talked about economic development and then went to dinner together.

But Singh was "in no mood" for one-on-one talks with Sattar, an Indian official said later on condition of anonymity.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, are scheduled to join other leaders in Nepal Friday.

Vajpayee talked tough in an appearance in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh with a veiled reference to India's nuclear arsenal.

"Whatever weapon is available, we will use it to defend ourselves. And if because of that weapon the attacker is defeated...if he is killed, we should not be held responsible," he said.

India has not specifically ruled out meeting with Pakistan over the issue, though a Vajpayee spokesman said earlier that no talks were planned "at any level." Pakistan has said repeatedly it would be willing to meet with India and that tension should be defused through talks.

Sattar also suggested Pakistan would consider extraditing terrorism suspects if India met "legal requirements," The Nation newspaper reported Wednesday.

Blair Goes to the Region



British Prime Minister Tony Blair leaves for South Asia Wednesday but his government played down talk he might act as peacemaker between Pakistan and India.

"Expectations about the potential of the prime minister's visit to defuse tensions should not be raised too much," said Foreign Secretary Jack Straw , confirming that Blair would visit Bangladesh, India and Pakistan during his week-long trip.

"There is no Blair peace plan that the prime minister could or should take out of his pocket," Straw told BBC radio.

The South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation summit is pivotal because it offers the possibility of direct diplomatic contact between the two nations, which has been scarce of late. Last week, India sent home half of Pakistan's diplomats, and Pakistan responded in kind.

Pakistan Arrests 50



Tense relations worsened sharply after India accused Pakistan of sponsoring the Dec. 13 attack on Parliament, which killed nine Indians and the five attackers. Pakistan denies the claim, and the two militant groups, Lashkar and Jaish, have denied any role.

The two groups are the main Pakistan-based groups battling Indian rule in Kashmir – an insurgency that India accused Pakistan of fueling. Pakistan says its support for militant groups in Kashmir is only political.

Pakistan says India's demands to hand over militants can be answered only if New Delhi backs up its accusations.

"If a court in India were to indict them, if India were to provide proof, Pakistan may consider extradition," Pakistani spokesman Gondal said Wednesday.

Still, Pakistan has acted to arrest dozens of militants – even before its sweep of 50 members of the two groups in recent days. It has already detained the former leader of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, though it cited internal security as the reason, not India's demands.

India is insisting Islamabad take what New Delhi calls "meaningful and resolute steps" to stop terrorists based in Pakistan from carrying out acts of violence in Kashmir, a mountainous region over which the two countries have fought two wars.

The attack Wednesday near the legislature in Srinagar came two months after an Oct. 1 suicide attack on the state legislature building, which killed 40 people.

Police said the attackers exploded the first grenade at the main entrance of the heavily guarded legislature building and followed up with another blast outside a nearby abandoned movie theater.

At least 12 people, including eight policemen, were wounded in the first blast. One policeman later died of his wounds, officials said. Ten civilians and three soldiers were wounded in the second explosion.

Elsewhere Wednesday, Indian soldiers killed nine suspected Islamic militants in three different shootouts in the Hill Kaka area bordering Pakistan.

The fighting near the border, 137 miles northwest of Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, lasted for two hours, the army said.

The Indian army also said that it killed at least five Pakistani soldiers and destroyed their bunkers in retaliatory fire in the Naushera sector of Jammu.

© 2002 Washington Post Newsweek Interactive

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