Musharraf moves to defuse tension

Amid international concern, the two nuclear-armed neighbours are lurching towards war, Pakistan said yesterday it would not allow the part of disputed Kashmir it rules to be used for terrorist activity, an apparent concession to rival India to ease their military standoff.

A government statement released after a joint meeting of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's cabinet and the policy-making National Security Council (NSC) said "no organisation in Pakistan will be allowed to indulge in terrorism in the name of Kashmir".

Political analysts said the move could help defuse tensions between the two countries. "This is the biggest concession Musharraf could have made in the cause of peace," said Najam Sethi, editor of Pakistani weekly The Friday Times.

"Basically Pakistan has given an assurance to the international community directly and to India indirectly that it will not allow cross-border infiltration of jihadis into Kashmir," he said, even as Pakistan's foreign office spokesperson warned "the Indian leadership should desist from such blatant war-mongering."

Pakistan's statement came shortly after Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said during a visit to insurgency-wracked Kashmir that it was time for a "decisive fight".

"Our goal should be victory because now the time has come for a decisive fight and in this war we will win... We have to fight our own war, we are ready for it, we are prepared for it," Vajpayee said in his speech, broadcast live nationwide.

Tensions mounted on Tuesday after the assassination of moderate separatist leader Abdul Ghani Lone, an executive member of the main separatist alliance in Kashmir, the All Party Hurriyat Conference. He was buried in Srinagar yesterday.

In New Delhi, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said "Pakistan also has to realise that it cannot engage in cross-border terrorism and continue to be part of the coalition against terrorism," as Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer called in expelled Pakistani Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi to convey Delhi's concerns on Pakistan's "compulsive hostilities against India."

Rao said Iyer in her talks with Qazi had also described Musharraf's January 12 pledge to fight extremism as "cosmetic." Rao quoted Iyer as saying that Islamabad has relocated training camps of guerrillas and given a free hand to hardline leaders.

Many analysts believe that with the U.S. military presence in neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan and Washington's efforts to defuse tensions, war may not be imminent.

JN Dixit, former foreign secretary and ambassador to Pakistan said he expected the government to wait for the visits of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw later this month before taking a final decision on a course of action.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Straw conferred on the escalating crisis. Powell called Straw, who heads to South Asia next week, from the presidential jet as he travelled with President George W Bush to Europe, State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said.

Straw announced yesterday that Britain would recall some of its diplomats and their families from Pakistan because of security concerns.