Tension Continues To Build up on Indian Pakistani Border

31/05/2001| IslamWeb

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Islamweb & News Agencies) - India and Pakistan traded tit-for-tat sanctions on Thursday as the nuclear rivals continued their biggest military build-up in almost 15 years, stoking fears of war.
India, angry at Pakistan's ``unacceptable failure'' to crush anti-Indian militants fighting its rule in Kashmir, also rejected pressure from Washington for talks with Islamabad to defuse the crisis.
Indian and Pakistani forces fired on each other across their border in divided Kashmir overnight in the latest clash between the uneasy neighbors who have fought three wars -- two over Kashmir -- in little more than half a century of independence.
Along the volatile frontier which stretches 2,070 miles from Kashmir in the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea, villagers are fleeing as both sides rush extra troops and equipment, including fighter jets, tanks and artillery to forward bases and lay defensive minefields.
Pakistani troops beefed up security across Karachi, a busy port and the country's financial capital, and witnesses said anti-aircraft guns were deployed to guard the city's docks and airports.
Paramilitary forces stood guard around the city's oil installations, and they and city police stepped up their patrols on the main streets of the bustling commercial city.
Pledging restraint, Pakistan had earlier said it was open to talks and said neither side should consider using their nuclear weapons.
But Indian Foreign Minster Jaswant Singh accused Pakistan of trying to dupe the world into believing it was cracking down on the militants and said the cabinet's security committee had decided to halve India's diplomatic mission in Pakistan and Islamabad's in New Delhi, restrict movement of Pakistani diplomats and halt Pakistan International Airlines' rights to fly over India.