As Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived here Monday to try to ease tensions between India and Pakistan, India shelled Pakistani troops in the disputed Kashmir region, an attack likely to make even more challenging Powell’s delicate mission to build consensus in the troubled Central Asia region.
The unexpected flare-up of the lingering Kashmir conflict threatens to rekindle hostilities between the two nuclear powers. U.S. officials warned that an India-Pakistan clash could weaken crucial support from both nations for the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism.
Alarmed by the incident, President Bush called on both sides to “stand down during our activities in Afghanistan–stand down, for that matter, forever.
“Our secretary of state is in the region,” Bush said in Washington. “One reason he’s there is to talk to both sides about making sure that … if there are tensions, and obviously there are, that they be reduced.”
The conflict is likely to increase pressure on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, already under fire for his decision to allow U.S. troops to deploy in the country as part of the campaign against alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and the Afghan Taliban regime that shelters him. On Monday, thousands of businesses shut down through much of Pakistan, and demonstrations occurred in several cities as part of a national strike called by Islamic militants angered by Musharraf’s decision.
Meanwhile, India unleashed artillery, mortars and rockets across and near the Line of Control dividing the Himalayan region, according to Pakistani presidential spokesman Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi.
Qureshi confirmed that one woman died and 37 civilians were injured in two 90-minute artillery barrages by Indian troops on 11 Pakistan positions in Kashmir. Pakistani military personnel, dug into bunkers, reportedly escaped the shelling and retaliated with their own artillery. India said 11 Pakistani posts were destroyed and 12 guerrillas were killed along the Line of Control, a cease-fire line established in 1970.
Although India supports the U.S. campaign against Afghanistan, sharing intelligence and other support, it wants the U.S. to pressure Pakistan to stop supporting Islamic militants battling Indian rule in Kashmir. India’s prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has warned Bush that India is losing patience with Pakistan.
“From now onward, no infiltration or subversive action sponsored by Pakistan will go unpunished,” said Indian Brigadier P.C. Das, based near the town of Jammu, in Indian Kashmir, where fighting broke out.
Powell met with Musharraf on Monday evening and was scheduled to fly to New Delhi on Tuesday for talks with Vajpayee. In between, he is expected to meet with representatives of former Afghan King Mohammed Zahir Shah, who could play a prominent role in cobbling together a coalition government should the Taliban be toppled. The king’s delegation flew to Islamabad hours before the secretary of state arrived.
En route to Pakistan, Powell acknowledged that in addition to soothing the tensions over Kashmir he would discuss the possibility of a new government in Afghanistan with other leaders in the region. He is expected to join Bush in China on Wednesday for a summit of Asian and Pacific nations.
“We are getting ready for the possibility that sometime in the near future there could be a need to respond to the collapse of the [Afghan] government, if one could call that evil regime a government,” Powell said.
He announced that he was dispatching senior diplomat Richard Haass as a personal envoy to the United Nations to negotiate the shape of a new government to replace Afghanistan’s Taliban regime. The Bush administration appears to be deferring to the world body on postwar issues. Powell said the UN would play “a key role.”
Powell also praised the “bold and courageous” steps that Pakistan’s president has taken since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to sever Islamabad’s support for the Taliban. His comments appeared to signal that the United States was prepared to reward Pakistan with new military cooperation.
As Powell arrived in Pakistan, the tensions in the area were unmistakable.
Islamabad appeared under siege, with helicopters circling overhead. Troops behind sandbagged bunkers controlled traffic, a precaution against violent demonstrations as part of the general strike.
In Karachi, mobs rampaged through the streets, burning tires and hurling rocks at police who retaliated with teargas. Elsewhere in Pakistan protests were peaceful.
The posts in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir were attacked hours before Powell was to meet Musharraf. In the war of words and accusations that follows any incident in the disputed region, India said the attacks were in retaliation against Pakistani “infiltrators” who blew up three power transformers on the Indian side of the cease-fire line both sides frequently violate.
In Islamabad, Qureshi said the Indian artillery barrage came from Russian-made 105-mm and 130-mm fixed artillery pieces and was followed by heavy mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
“We retaliated in kind, as we always do,” he said.
Monday’s fighting was the most intense this year, and the first large-scale shooting since mid-July, when both armies exchanged fire during the three-day summit between Indian and Pakistani leaders. The summit ended in a deadlock over how to solve the half-century dispute over the divided Himalayan province.
Last week, Pakistan moved troops toward the cease-fire line after Vajpayee hinted India might pursue “Pakistani-trained terrorists” across the line.
The announcement made headlines in Pakistan, where the war in Afghanistan became secondary news. Pakistani-based Islamic insurgents–labeled “terrorists” by India and “freedom fighters” by Pakistan–have fought since 1989 for a separate Kashmir or unification with Pakistan. Tens of thousands of Indian troops, on what India calls a policing mission, have been moved to Kashmir to control the incursions.
Pakistan backs a UN Security Council recommendation for a referendum in Kashmir. New Delhi rejects the UN proposal, afraid that Kashmir’s mainly Muslim population will vote against India.
Inside Pakistan
Pakistan was created in 1947, a home for Muslims demanding a state separate from the largely Hindu nation of India. Poor and densely populated, Pakistan has been beset by costly confrontations with India, many of them over the disputed area of Kashmir. Pakistan is the only nation that recognizes the Taliban government in Afghanistan. On his trip to Pakistan this week, Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Gen. Pervez Musharraf to discuss Pakistan-India relations and the possibilities for a post-Taliban government.
MAJOR ETHNIC GROUPS INSIDE PAKISTAN
Pashtuns: In 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, millions of Pashtuns fled to Pakistan.
Baluchis: First came to the region in the 12th Century. The Baluch are primarily nomads and Muslim.
Punjabis: Punjab was partitioned along the line between concentrations of Muslim and Hindu populations.
Sinds: Arab invaders of the Sind state in 711 were the first Muslim settlers on the subcontinent. Arab influence remains strong.
THE KASHMIR REGION
When Pakistan and India gained independence from Britain in 1947, the fate of Kashmir was left undecided. After wars over the region in 1948 and 1965, both countries withdrew behind a mutually agreed cease-fire line. However, artillery duels continue along the makeshift border.
Northern Highlands
Mountainous region of the Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Himalaya ranges. Contains K2, the second highest mountain in the world. Travel in the region is difficult and dangerous.
Baluchistan Plateau
Barren, dry and rocky region with sparse population.
Indus River plain
This agricultural region, extending through Sind and Punjab, has fertile soil fed by a series of rivers and irrigation channels.
POLITICAL TENSIONS Pakistan’s notoriously unstable government has shifted between democratic and military rule during the country’s brief history. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, has promised to restore democracy, but has not given a time frame for when this might happen.
TIES TO AFGHANISTAN
Pakistan’s government supported the Taliban as it gained control of Afghanistan. Pakistan has agreed to support any U.S. action against the Taliban, but that position is tenuous. Many Pakistanis have protested their government’s assistance to U. S. military operations. Pakistan’s government is the only one to recognize the Taliban’s authority.
CONFLICT WITH INDIA
Pakistan’s split with India resulted in a bitter rivalry. For the past 20 years, disagreements between Pakistani-supported Muslim groups in India and India’s Hindu population have sparked violent clashes, leaving thousands dead. In the late 1990s, Pakistan and India became locked in a nuclear arms race as the two nations set off a series of tests designed to showcase their technologies. The tests were condemned by countries around the world, but both say their weapons would be used only in self-defense.
PAKISTAN’S HISTORY
1947: Muslim political parties pressure British and Hindu leaders to divide portions of western and eastern India into a separate state, dividing the land along religious lines. These portions later become West and East Pakistan.
1948: India and Pakistan begin fighting for control over the northern Kashmir region.
1956: Pakistan becomes a republic, adopting its first constitution under President Iskander Mirza.
1958: Ayub Khan, Mirza’s chief martial law administrator, stages a coup and assumes presidency.
1969: Khan hands the presidency over to army commander Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan.
1971: India and Pakistan go to war again, resulting in East Pakistan becoming indep-endent Bangladesh . Khan resigns and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is named president.
1977: Bhutto is ousted from office by the military and is put on trial for crimes he committed while in office.
1978: Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq becomes president.
1979: Bhutto is executed.
1988: Ghulum Ishaq Khan is elected president after Ul-Haq dies in a plane crash. Benazir Bhutto, Zulfikar’s daughter, is elected prime minister.
1990: Ishaq Khan dismisses Benazir Bhutto after she is charged with corruption. Nawaz Sharif becomes prime minister.
1993: Khan and Sharif are forced to resign and Benazir Bhutto is re-elected prime minister.
1996: Benazir Bhutto is charged again with corruption and is removed from office. Sharif is re-elected prime minister.
1999: Sharif is ousted by Gen. Pervez Musharraf
FACTS AND FIGURES
SIZE: 310,402 square miles (almost six times larger than Illinois)
TERRAIN: Indus plain in East, mountains in north and northwest, Baluchistan plateau in the southwest.
CLIMATE: Mostly hot, dry desert; temperate in northwest; arctic in north.
POPULATION: 144,616,639 (July 2001 estimate)
CAPITAL: Islamabad,_population 704,140 (current estimate)
TIME ZONE: 11 hours ahead of Central Standard Time
BIRTHRATE: 31.21 births per 1,000 (US=14.2)
LIFE EXPECTANCY: 61.45 years (US=77.26)
PER CAPITA GDP: $2,000 (U.S.=$36,200)
LANGUAGES
Punjabi 48%
Sindhi 12%
Siraiki 10%
Others 4%
Balochi 3%
Urdu 8%
Pashtu 8%
RELIGION
Sunni Muslim 77%
Shiite Muslim 20%
Others 3%
Sources: CIA World Fact Book, World Almanac, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Population.com, Government of Singapore, news reports, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Chicago Tribune/Robert Dorrell, Steve Layton, Max Rust
