Neverending battles for war & peace.

...12/13/01: Indian parliament attacked, 18 people on the premises were killed; India is blaming an Islamic group of militants located in Pakistan...4 people have been arrested in Kashmir based on technical evidence...India will stamp out terrorists...clashes have begun at the common border of India & Pakistan, each believing that the other is planning an invasion...12/20/01: 4 Hindu women killed in India-controlled Kashmir, by suspected militants...12/24/01: Pakistan diplomat expelled from India for accessing classified data...12/26/01: missles are placed on the border between the two countries, the biggest buildup in 50 years...they are on the verge of war...India and Pakistan raised the ante on war preparations, but firing subsided along their tense border as both nuclear-armed nations turned to diplomatic efforts to avert a wider conflict...12/27/01: India banned Pakistan's national airline from entering Indian airspace and ordered half of Pakistan's embassy staff out of the country Thursday in new sanctions amid heightening tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals. Pakistan immediately matched India's sanctions, accusing New Delhi of fanning the crisis and saying it wanted to hold talks to defuse tensions. Still, government spokesman Gen. Rashid Quereshi Pakistan still has the capacity to react and retaliate in all conceivable ways - though he said a nuclear confrontation was unthinkable....As India and Pakistan shot at each other and spoke of war, weeping friends and relatives on both sides bid farewell Friday, 12/28/01, before the two nations sever their land and air links for the first time in 30 years...India said Saturday it would continue to mass tens of thousands of troops at its border until Pakistan cracks down on Islamic militants, rejecting a Pakistani call for the two nations' leaders to meet to try to defuse the crisis. Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said his government would do its best to avert war, but Pakistan warned that the tensions at the border could trigger a full-fledged conflict between the nuclear-armed nations. 12/29/01: Indian and Pakistani soldiers - only 100 yards apart in some places - traded fire again over the ''Line of Control'' dividing the disputed Kashmir region, as civilians on both sides of the border were evacuated. India says 20,000 civilians are being moved from homes near the Kashmir frontier. The possibility of a small action could trigger a chain of action and reaction that neither side desires. The propensity for such an outcome is very, very high, Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said in Islamabad...Pakistan is pulling troops from the Afghanistan border...

12/29/01: India said it would continue to mass tens of thousands of troops at its border until Pakistan cracks down on Islamic militants, rejecting a Pakistani call for the two nations' leaders to meet to try to defuse the crisis.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said his government would do its best to avert war, but Pakistan warned that the tensions at the border - where the two sides traded fire again Saturday - could trigger a full-fledged conflict between the nuclear-armed nations.

In a phone conversation Saturday, President Bush urged Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to take additional strong and decisive measures to eliminate the extremists who seek to harm India, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Bush also spoke with Vajpayee and said the United States is determined to cooperate with India in the fight against terrorism, McClellan said. Bush urged both leaders to work to reduce tensions.

...12/30/01: Pakistan troops are being relocated to the Kashmir border, as worries of war with India increase by the hour...each country is saying that the other one is preparing for a battle, so they have to defend themselves...President Bush maintains contact with the leaders of both nations...Kashmir is being referred to as a flashpoint...problem is the difference between interpretation, definition & meaning of terrorism and freedom fighters exercising their rights...12/31/01: 2 Indians killed at the Line of Control...the leaders still mention peace talks as the fighting continues, and the number of soldiers increases on both sides of their shared border...

Flags courtesy of Multimedia Palace

Nuclear-armed India said on 1/2/02 it was prepared to use its full military might to defend itself amid threats by Pakistan-based Islamic guerrilla groups to mount further attacks on the country.

Nuclear rivals Pakistan and India have come to the brink of war following an assault last month on India's parliament which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatists.

Whatever weapon is available, we will use it to defend ourselves, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said in his constituency of Lucknow in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

And if because of that weapon the attacker is defeated ... if he is killed, we should not be held responsible, said Vajpayee, who analysts say is under pressure to appear tough ahead of state elections in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.

India carried out nuclear tests in 1998 which were followed by tit-for-tat blasts by Pakistan. It has adopted a no first use policy for its nuclear weapons, saying they would only be used in retaliation. But Pakistan, whose conventional forces are far inferior, has not adopted a similar policy.

...the leaders of India and Pakistan attended the same royal banquet on 1/4/02, standing at opposite ends of a line of dignitaries in their first encounter since the nuclear-armed rivals put their militaries on war alert.

The two men showed no sign, however, of planning to discuss a peaceful resolution to their standoff at the regional summit in Nepal, which was delayed by the Pakistani president's late arrival due to fog.

There are no indications that Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan's Gen. Pervez Musharraf will meet one-on-one on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Indian government spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said.

Vajpayee met with every leader at the South Asian summit except Musharraf, she told a news conference, but refused to say whether it was a snub.

Pakistan on Friday announced the arrests of 130 Islamic militants, including leaders of two militant groups that India says were behind a Dec. 13 attack on its Parliament.

New Delhi reiterated its refusal to engage directly with Islamabad, saying it was waiting to see if the crackdown will last. Rao said a conducive climate- a reference to demands that Pakistan halt what India calls cross-border terrorism - must be established before talks can take place.

...1/5/02: India's prime minister grudgingly shook hands with Pakistan's president at a regional summit Saturday, but he rebuffed an offer of talks until Pakistan cracks down on Islamic militants.
The two nations' armies exchanged shellfire again Saturday across the line dividing the Himalayan territory of Kashmir. A truckload of explosives being unloaded by Indian soldiers at the border went off accidentally, killing 17 people.

The handshake took place when Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf addressed a summit of South Asian leaders - including Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee - in a speech broadcast live throughout the region.

...1/7/02: India ruled out diplomatic talks with Pakistan...Tony Blair, the PM of Britain, stated that these two nations should use their resources to wipe out terrorism, not each other...plane shot down over Kashmir, both countries blaming the other...1/11/02: sources reveal that some US troops may assist Pakistan in their conflict with India; this has not been confirmed...1/12/02: sources now say this is the biggest buildup of India's troops in 15 years...1/16/02: Israel wants to send radar planes to India...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Jan. 12, 2002) - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared Saturday that Pakistan will not be a base for terrorism and banned two extremist groups accused in an attack on India's parliament. Police raided religious schools and mosques and arrested more than 300 suspected militants.

There was no immediate reaction from the Indian government to the televised speech, in which Musharraf tried to defuse a crisis over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir that has pushed the neighboring nuclear powers to the brink of war.

However, Secretary of State Colin Powell, who will visit the region shortly, hailed Musharraf's bold and principled stand and said he believed the basis now exists for the resolution of tensions between India and Pakistan through diplomatic and peaceful means. Musharraf vowed that no organization will be allowed to indulge in terrorism behind the garb of the Kashmiri cause.

...We will take strict action against any Pakistani who is involved in terrorism inside the country or abroad.

If in any mosque there is any political activities or any other ... extremism, then we will take strong action, Musharraf declared. He warned Muslim clerics to spread the good points of Islam or there will be strong action against them.

The speech had been widely anticipated in hopes it would defuse mounting tensions with India that began with the 10/1/01 suicide bombing at the legislature building in Indian Kashmir.
India accused Pakistan and two Kashmiri separatist groups - Jaish-e-Muhammed and Lashkar-e-
Tayyaba - for the December attack and dispatched hundreds of thousands to the border. Pakistan responded with its own buildup and warned it would resist any Indian incursions. That raised the prospect of an armed confrontation between two countries.

A spokesman for Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Abdullah Sayyaf, vowed to continue attacks against India despite the ban. Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, or the Army from Medina, has carried out suicide attacks on the Indian army and has been declared a terrorist group by the United States. Both banned Kashmiri groups have links to al-Qaida.

Although Musharraf banned the two Kashmiri groups, he made clear that Pakistan would maintain moral and diplomatic support for Kashmir in its struggle for self-determination. India considers Kashmir its sovereign territory, a claim Pakistan has disputed since the two countries were carved out of British India in 1947.

The Pakistani president appealed to the United States and other major powers to play a role in settling the dispute, which has triggered two wars between India and Pakistan. I want to address to the international community, especially to the United States: Pakistan rejects terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, Musharraf said. Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used for any terrorist activity anywhere in the world. Now, you must play an active role in solving the Kashmir dispute for the sake of lasting peace and harmony in the region.

...1/16/02: in a clear shift of its stance, India on Wednesday said it was open to dialogue with Pakistan and called a speech by the Pakistani president path-breaking.
Indian Home Minister Lal K. Advani praised a speech in which President Pervez Musharraf condemned terrorism and vowed to curb Islamic militants. Advani's comments followed his return from Washington and came on the eve of a visit by Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The speech which Gen. Musharraf has made is important, is in a way path-breaking, Advani said. I have not heard earlier any other Pakistani leader denouncing theocracy in the manner in which Gen. Musharraf did...