India Government Discussing War
[ NEW DELHI, India (AP) - India's prime minister said on Wednesday that the government is discussing war, as well as diplomacy, as a response to last week's suicide attack on Parliament that it blames on Pakistan-based militants.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee told India's Parliament that Pakistani officials know there are forces within Pakistan that are taking part in terrorism. He repeated India's demand that it crack down on them.
``We are trying to address this diplomatically, but other options are also open, too,'' Vajpayee said during a debate over Thursday's assault on the legislative compound that left 13 people dead, including the attackers.
India says all five attackers were Pakistanis and that the neighboring country's intelligence service sponsored the attack. Pakistan has denied the charge.
The armies of both nuclear-armed nations' armies are reported to be on alert.
The Indian army said it engaged in heavy firing on Pakistani border outposts and bunkers Wednesday and both sides were exchanging gunfire on the Jammu-Kashmir (news - web sites) frontier. An Indian army spokesman said soldiers had fired across the border on Tuesday night to retaliate against Pakistani firing, which was allegedly aimed at covering for Islamic militant infiltrators.
Pakistan says it supports the cause of the militants - to separate Kashmir from India - but denies it gives them material aid. Border firing is common, with each side accusing the other of starting it.
In response to a U.S. call for restraint from both sides as Washington seeks their help in the global war on terrorism, Vajpayee said, ``We have reached the pinnacle of restraint.''
When President Bush (news - web sites) telephoned to express condolences after the Parliament attack, Vajpayee said, ``I told him that the terrorists were linked to Pakistan, were under the control of Pakistan and working at the behest of Pakistan.''
India has demanded that Pakistan halt all activities by two Islamic militant groups, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, arrest their leaders and freeze their assets. New Delhi said the two groups, with the support of Pakistan's intelligence service, planned and carried out the assault on Parliament.
``The question is not whether there should be a war or not,'' Vajpayee said. ``The question to be debated is in what circumstances there could be a war.''
Pakistan has accused India of blaming it for the suicide assault as a way of avoiding talks over the disputed Kashmir region which has bedeviled relations between the South Asian neighbors for five decades.
Pakistani officials have said they would participate in an impartial investigation, but would take no action without proof. Vajpayee called the demand for a joint investigation ``ridiculous.''
``What proof do we need?'' Vajpayee said. ``The bullet marks on the Parliament walls, the bodies of the terrorists, who were Pakistani nationals, this is the proof by itself.''
Vajpayee has said all parties would be consulted about what action to take in response to the attack.
``When we have to decide about war or peace, we have to be patient,'' he said. ``We have to have all options and their pros and cons weighed before coming to any conclusion.''
Since their division into separate nations after British independence in 1947, Islamic Pakistan and Hindu-majority India have fought three wars, two of them over their competing claims to the Himalayan region of mostly Muslim Kashmir. ]
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