PAKISTAN: PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF RETURNS FROM KAZIKHSTAN WHERE INTERNATIONAL MEDIATION EFFORTS FAILED TO EASE TENSIONS BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN

Record ID: 640593

  • Title: PAKISTAN: PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF RETURNS FROM KAZIKHSTAN WHERE INTERNATIONAL MEDIATION EFFORTS FAILED TO EASE TENSIONS BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN
  • Date: 5th June 2002
  • Summary: (U3) RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN (JUNE 4, 2002) (REUTERS) MV SYED SALAHUDDIN, COMMANDER HIZB-UL-MUJAHIDEEN, ARRIVES FOR INTERVIEW; MV SALAHUDDIN WITH JOURNALISTS (2 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SYED SALAHUDDIN SAYING "The people coming from Occupied (Indian-ruled) Kashmir to Azad (Pakistan-controlled) Kashmir, and those going from Azad Kashmir to Indian-held Kashmir, it is their moral and legal right. No one can deprive (them) of that. But we have never crossed the International Line. And remember, we are not dependent on any foreign government, even the government of Pakistan for the continuation of our armed struggle, because we are self reliant." SCU CUTAWAY SALAHUDDIN'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SALAHUDDIN SAYING "We can train thousands of youth inside Kashmir, in our already-established mobile training camps. Regarding the use of explosives, regarding the use of IDs, improvised devices, we are self sufficient in this respect. We do not depend on any foreign support." MV SALAHUDDIN SITTING; SCU JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SALAHUDDIN SAYING "And remember, if the international community pressurised the government of Pakistan not to continue its diplomatic or political support ever, even this will not affect our movement." (U3) RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN (JUNE 5, 2002) (REUTERS) CIVIL DEFENCE WORKERS LINED UP FOR AIR RAID DRILL AND CHANTING 'Allah (God) is great.'; SLV CONTRAPTION ON FIRE; MV FLAMES; SLV FIRE ENGINES ARRIVING; SLV FIREMEN PUTTING OUT FIRE (7 SHOTS) SLV INJURED PEOPLE LYING ON GROUND; SLV AMBULANCE ARRIVING; MV MEDICAL STAFF CARRYING AWAY INJURED PEOPLE; SLV AMBULANCE RUSHING OFF WITH INJURED (4 SHOTS) LAS INJURED MAN BEING LOWERED FROM TOWER; MV CIVIL DEFENCE OFFICIAL GIVING INSTRUCTIONS ON MEGAPHONE; INJURED BEING PULLED DOWN AND CARRIED AWAY; SLV AMBULANCE LEAVING (5 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) MOHAMMAD AJAZ, ADDITIONAL CHIEF WARDEN, CIVIL DEFENCE ORGANISATION, RAWALPINDI CITY, SAYING "The people, volunteers and all civic agencies of Rawalpindi are fully prepared for any type of emergency and they are ready to defend their country." SLV CIVIL DEFENCE OFFICIALS LEAVING AFTER COMPLETION OF DRILL Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th June 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ISLAMABAD AND RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA8QAKRBKFFY434FRRS2O8U5FMC
  • Story Text: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has arrived back in Islamabad from Kazakhstan where international mediation efforts failed to ease tension between India and Pakistan. The two nuclear-armed rivals have shown no signs of compromise over Kashmir that has brought them to the brink of war.
    Musharraf arrived in Islamabad late on Tuesday (June 4, 2002), hours after the end of a security forum in Kazakhstan where he sat on the same table as Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
    On Wednesday (June 5), Vajpayee called on Pakistan to act on its pledge to crack down on Islamic militants and stop them crossing into territory on the Indian side of the boundary that divides the disputed Himalayan region.
    Islamabad must also dismantle militant camps on the Pakistani side of the line, he told a news conference.
    Pakistan has already said there is no infiltration across the line of control and has called for independent observers, such U.N. monitors, to be allowed to verify this.
    The feuding neighbours have massed one million troops, backed by tanks, missiles and artillery, on their border and dozens of people have been killed in daily exchanges of mortar and artillery fire. They traded heavy fire again on Wednesday.
    India has blamed bloody attacks on its parliament in December and on an army camp in Kashmir last month on Islamic militants based in Pakistan. Islamabad denies it backs the guerrillas.
    Indian and Pakistani leaders on Tuesday attended an Asian security summit in Almaty, the commercial capital of Kazakhstan, but Russian efforts to broker a face-to-face meeting failed.
    Western countries have tried to prevent a further flare-up of tension in Kashmir, already the cause of two of the three wars between the countries since independence from Britain in 1947.
    They fear the stand-off could spill over into nuclear war as India is estimated to have 100 to 150 nuclear warheads and Pakistan 25 to 50. Last month, Pakistan tested missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads deep into India.
    The next round of international diplomacy comes with a visit to Pakistan and India by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on June 6 and 7.
    U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will follow him there next week as Washington tries to cool tensions that could derail its war on terror in the wake of September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
    But one Kashmiri leader based in Pakistan said Kashmiris have every right to move across the ceasefire line that divides the disputed region.
    Syed Salahuddin, founder of the Hizb-ul-Mujhahideen group, told Reuters that there were no legal or moral restrictions on the right of Kashmiris to cross the Line of Control (LOC) where hundreds of thousands of troops from both countries are in eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation.
    "The people coming from Occupied (Indian-ruled) Kashmir to Azad (Pakistan-controlled) Kashmir, and those going from Azad Kashmir to Indian-held Kashmir, it is their moral and legal right. No one can deprive (them) of that.
    But we have never crossed the International Line. And remember, we are not dependent on any foreign government, even the government of Pakistan for the continuation of our armed struggle, because we are self reliant," said Salahuddin, the leader of one of the largest militants groups that is believed to have a large number of militants inside Indian-ruled Kashmir.
    Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, which is fighting for the merger of Muslim-majority Kashmir with Pakistan, declared a ceasefire and started talks with India in mid-2000 but they broke down after New Delhi refused to include Islamabad in the talks.
    Salahuddin said his group still favoured a political settlement of the long-running dispute.
    Although he insisted on the inclusion of Pakistan in any talks on the future of the disputed Himalayan region, he made it clear that their movement was not dependent on help from any quarter.
    "We can train thousands of youths inside Kashmir, in our already established mobile training camps. Regarding the use of explosives, regarding the use of IDs (improvised devices) we are self sufficient in this respect. We do not depend on any foreign support," Salahuddin said.
    Salahuddin defended militant attacks on Indian military installations but said his group was opposed to attacks on civilians, adding that, under the circumstances, Kashmiris had every right to have recourse to guns without being termed as terrorists.
    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview last week there were indications Pakistan was trying to stop militants crossing the disputed border, but he said he needed absolute proof of the clampdown.
    But Salahuddin said his organisation would not give-in to international pressure even if Pakistan did.
    "And remember, if the international community pressurized the government of Pakistan not to continue its diplomatic or political support ever, even this will not affect our movement," he said.
    Emergency officials in Pakistan carried out emergency drills on Wednesday (June 5) in preparation for any crisis situation as a result of the tension with India.
    In Rawalpindi, outside the capital Islamabad, hundreds participated in an emergency evacuation and rescue drill.
    The feuding neighbours have massed a million troops on their border, and Pakistan has said that persistent cross-border shelling in disputed Kashmir had killed a number of Indian troops and two Pakistani civilians on Tuesday (June 4, 2002).
    The military build-up on the India-Pakistan border, where tanks, missiles and artillery are ranged in support of the troops, has led to frequent shellfire and some casualties.
    The two leaders face a tough task balancing hawkish sentiment at home with the need to avoid a war which would be devastating for both sides.
    As the tension grows, people in Pakistan are bracing themselves for a war that is becoming more and more imminent.
    "The people, the volunteers and all civic agencies of Rawalpindi are fully prepared for any type of emergency and they are ready to defend their country," said Mohammad Ajaz, additional chief warden of the Civil Defence Organisation of Rawalpindi city.
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