India accused of raising tensions

Pakistan accused arch-rival India yesterday of heightening tensions along a military control line in disputed Kashmir where both sides have reported deadly cross-border shelling in recent days and also warned estranged ally, the U.S., that any initiation of violence by Washington against Afghanistan would only aggravate matters.
A Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman told reporters that Pakistan was seeking to lower these tensions and was keeping a United Nations military observers' group in the area informed of the Indian violations.
"There is escalation of tensions along the line of control (LoC) as you have seen regular reports on that," he said.
"We have always maintained that there should be de-escalation and lowering of tensions because escalation can only aggravate the situation, (and) will solve nothing," he said.
Spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan declined to comment on reports that the U.S. was planning strikes against Afghanistan and said it was in the realms of speculation.
However, asked about Pakistan's response to possible strikes against Afghanistan, the spokesman said: "Any initiation of violence will aggravate matters and complicate the situation. It will resolve nothing."
The spokesman said that Pakistan had lodged a serious protest with the U.S. when it conducted air strikes against Afghanistan in 1998.
He said in reply to a question that there was no communication between Islamabad and Washington on the subject. He said that if any government had any problems with Afghanistan, that should be discussed with the Afghan government.

Ceasefire

Answering a question regarding charges that the July ceasefire offer by the Hizbul Mujahideen was undermined by Pakistan and how Pakistan would respond in the wake of another ceasefire, the spokesman put the blame of what had happened on New Delhi.
He said one of the Mujahideen groups had offered ceasefire in July, which created a window of opportunity for dialogue and peace process but India did not tried to exploit the opportunity to create divisions within the freedom movement and to create misunderstandings between the freedom movement and Pakistan.
He said New Delhi also imposed on the Hizbul Mujahideen the precondition of accepting the Indian constitution as the framework for any dialogue. "This was tantamount to asking the freedom fighters to ipso facto renounce the very objective of their half a century long struggle."
The spokesman recalled that the day following the Indian preconditions, one of their representatives said that hopes for any progress had been shattered.
He said that initially the Indian prime minister took the stand that any dialogue should be within the framework of "Insaniat" (humanity) but within a day, this stance was changed under pressure to the framework of the Indian constitution.
Asked to comment on whether U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had written any letter to Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar with three conditions, the spokesman replied: "There has been no such letter and there was no communication in the form of letter or phone between the two. The last time Sattar and Albright met was in September and the report regarding the letter is without any basis whatsoever."
On whether there were any political conditions (set by the U.S.) through any diplomatic channels for facilitation of the IMF's programme for Pakistan, the spokesman said that diplomatic exchanges between the two sides were continuing in the normal course. " As far as IMF programme is concerned, the body is an independent one and has its own criteria and economic and other considerations on the basis of which it makes decisions"
In reply to another question on reports that Pakistan might default and could face isolation, the spokesman said Pakistan was determined not to default. He said he would give technical details to the effect next time.