Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: George Papadopoulos who wrote (13303)	7/4/1999 4:02:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

George, It is absolutely beyond me how people fail to see the total absurdity of Kosovo undertaking before, during and after fiasco... Pakistan Dismisses Kashmir Blame Sunday, 4 July 1999 I S L A M A B A D , P A K I S T A N (AP) MUCH OF the world blames Pakistan for the conflict raging on its frontier with India, not least Americans and Europeans, who accuse it of violating the 1972 cease-fire line that divides Kashmir between the nuclear rivals. In the eyes of most Pakistanis - even those who are ready to admit the involvement of Pakistan in the fighting - the position of the West, and in particular the United States, is another example of selective finger pointing. "What of the Siachin Glacier?" is a popular refrain here. There, at 22,000 feet on the frigid Himalayan mountain peaks, Indian soldiers in 1984 established 18 posts on what Pakistan considers its territory, breaching the truce line. At least 400 Pakistani soldiers died in failed attempts to dislodge them. India still occupies that land in Siachin, where, says Pakistani army Brig. Rashid Quereshi, "We are at war." Still smarting from the Siachin debacle, the Pakistani military sees the current conflict around the city of Kargil - whether it involves regular Pakistani troops or Pakistan-backed Islamic guerrillas - as retribution. Hectoring by Western leaders hasn't made it easy for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to order a pull back or make any concessions in efforts to bring an end to the fighting. Militant Islamic groups such as Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, whose guerrillas are fighting in Kashmir, rallied 10,000 people in Pakistan's capital last month to warn Sharif against giving in. They promised a revolt led by Islamic groups if he negotiated a deal with India at the behest of the United States. The rally, held at the height of the World Cup cricket tournament, urged Sharif, an avid player, to trade in his cricket bat for a Kalashnikov automatic rifle to fight India. Participants declared the conflict a "jihad," or holy war. "No government who sells out the Kashmiris can last," said Sayed Salauddin, head of the United Jehad Council, an umbrella group that embraces 14 guerrilla movements, including Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. These groups have training camps in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and are getting weapons and money from Muslim groups sympathetic to the Islamic militants in Indian Kashmir who want to break away from that Hindu nation. While Pakistan's government says its support to Kashmir rebels is only moral and diplomatic, there are credible reports that the army has provided both supplies and military support in the 11-year-long insurgency. Many in the military are hawks on the question of Kashmir and are reluctant to accept a deal. Pakistani generals have become more subservient to civilian governments of late, but the military remains a formidable institution, having thrown out elected leaders and ruled for 25 of the country's 52-year history. A disgruntled army might give a nod to Islamic militant groups to harass Sharif with street demonstrations. The groups have little trouble getting new recruits from the tens of thousands of students who graduate from Pakistan's religious schools each year. Countrywide protests could threaten Sharif's hold on power and cripple his attempts at economic reform, which would jeopardize international aid - the only thing keeping Pakistan's shattered economy from collapsing. Sharif must keep that public mood in mind as he faces growing demands, including the latest from longtime ally China, to return to the status quo along the troubled border dividing Kashmir. Sharif would like something in return for a truce. Some people suggest India returning Siachin territory and Pakistan leaving Kargil. A more plausible gesture could come from the international community in the form of trying to resolve the larger issue of Kashmir, a flashpoint for 52 years and the spark of two wars between Pakistan and India. Both sides lay claim to a united Kashmir. Forced to station more than 500,000 Indian soldiers in the territory, India clearly has a problem among the region's Muslim majority. Residents are increasingly disaffected with an army that is trying to subdue them by burning down villages and arresting young men. After five decades of mistrust, it's virtually impossible to see how India and Pakistan can solve the Kashmir dispute on their own. Pakistan wants the implementation of a 1948 U.N. resolution recommending that Kashmiris on both sides of the border be given the right to vote to join either India or Pakistan. India wants no part of international involvement and rejects the U.N. resolution. A broad Kashmir settlement would be in the world interest because of the danger that both countries will step up their development of nuclear weapons, said Riffat Hussein, a professor of international studies at Qaid-e-Azam University. "The Kargil crisis will lead to greater pressure for weaponization ... also deployment," he said. That means when the next hostilities erupt, one or both probably will possess usable nuclear weapons, Hussein said. The Kargil conflict showed there are some in Pakistan, including cabinet ministers, who advocate using nuclear weapons in an all-out war with India. "This Kargil crisis really has to bring the world's attention to the real possibility of nuclear warfare between two countries," he said. ---- EDITOR'S NOTE: Kathy Gannon, an AP correspondent based in Islamabad, has covered Pakistan for The Associated Press since 1988.