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

To: Neocon who wrote (10216)	5/28/1999 3:17:00 AM
From: JBL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

Watch Clinton and Blair try to defuse the Indian-Pakistan conflict. I anticipate some interesting verbal acrobatics on how to resolve this situation through dialogue.... Friday May 28 12:19 AM ET India Readies More Kashmir Air Strikes Full Coverage India - Pakistan Tension By John Chalmers NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India prepared to launch fresh air strikes against intruders holed up on the Kashmir heights Friday after a night of heavy shelling across the cease-fire line dividing it from bitter foe Pakistan. The nuclear rivals inched toward a wider conflict Thursday, with India lashing out angrily at Pakistan for shooting down at least one of its fighter jets and Pakistan warning of ''incalculable consequences'' if the fighting gathered pace. A senior Indian defense official said there would be more raids on hundreds of Muslim guerrillas dug in on its side of the disputed Himalayan territory, though there was no repeat of the dawn attacks of the previous two days. He said there was intense artillery fire during the night from both sides in at least six northern sectors along the Line of Control dividing the Indian and Pakistani zones in Kashmir. India says at least 160 people have been killed in joint army and air force operations to flush out the intruders, who it says include Afghan mercenaries and Pakistani army regulars. India and Pakistan have gone to war twice over Kashmir since they won independence from Britain in 1947. Since 1990, they have been locked in a diplomatic tussle over a Muslim revolt in Jammu and Kashmir, the two-thirds of the region ruled by India. Kashmir's leading separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, called a one-day general strike in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, to protest against the air strikes on ''freedom fighters.'' Islamabad, which Friday marked the first anniversary of nuclear tests staged in reply to underground blasts by New Delhi, says it wants to defuse the situation and is seeking U.N. intervention in Kashmir. India says it remains committed to February's Lahore Declaration that pledged to solve the dispute over the region amicably. Brijesh Mishra, a key adviser to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, said in a television interview Thursday night that India had no intention of escalating the conflict. ''There is no need for any panic at all. When we went in for the air strikes we knew that there could be some damage to our aircraft. We went into it with open eyes,'' Mishra said. India's foreign ministry said New Delhi was determined to complete its task. ''Pakistan will be responsible for any escalation. Pakistan should realize that such foolhardy ventures against India cannot succeed,'' its statement said. Analysts say the conflict is unlikely to spread, though major world powers reacted with alarm to the sharp rise in hostilities. The United States, China and Germany expressed worry over the mounting tension and urged calm. Russia, using the occasion to voice its opposition to NATO's military campaign against Yugoslavia, drew a parallel between Kashmir and Kosovo. India and Pakistan provided conflicting accounts of the downing of India's MiG-21 and MiG-27 attack aircraft. Pakistan said it shot down the planes after they violated its airspace and both crashed four miles inside its territory. It said one of the pilots was killed and the other was captured and would be treated as a prisoner of war. India confirmed that it had lost two aircraft, but said there had been no violation of the Line of Control. It said one had developed engine failure and the pilot ejected. The other flew low to locate the pilot and was hit by a surface-to-air missile from across the Line of Control.