Bush intensifies
foreign diplomacy
by Jonathan 8. Landay
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Alarmed by a
growing threat of war, President
Bush demanded Thursday that Pak
istan’s military ruler make good on
his pledges to stop Islamic guerril
las from crossing into the Indian
controlled side of the disputed
Kashmir region.
Gen. Pervez Musharraf “must
stop the incursions across the Line
of Control. He must do so. He said
he would do so,” Bush said. The
Line of Control is the militarized
boundary between the Indian- and
Pakistani-held portions of Kashmir.
Bush also announced he was
sending Secretary of Defense Don
ald H. Rumsfeld to South Asia next
week for talks with Indian and Pak
istani leaders.
The intensified diplomacy reflect
ed fears that a war between India and
Pakistan could escalate into a nuclear
exchange that would kill millions of
people. U.S. officials also are worried
that the crisis is hurting the war on
terrorism by diverting Pakistan’s at
tention from the hunt for Osama bin
Laden and members of his al-Qaeda
terrorist network.
Bush’s comments suggested that
the United States has yet to detect
any concrete moves by Musharraf to
prevent Islamic militants based in
Pakistan from joining guerrillas
fighting to end India’s control of
two-thirds of Kashmir, which like
Pakistan is predominately Muslim.
Bush signaled that he expects
Musharraf to take the first step to
ward defusing a crisis over Kashmir.
“We are making it very clear to
both Pakistan and India that war
will not serve their interests,” Bush
said. “And we’re part of an interna
tional coalition applying pressure to
both parties, particularly to Presi
dent Musharraf. ”
Bush also asserted that al-Qaeda
would gain no advantage from the
crisis. Many al-Qaeda members
have escaped from their old bases in
Afghanistan and are believed to
have found refuge in Pakistan’s
cities and lawless tribal areas.
“They shouldn’t think they’re go
ing to gain any advantage as a result
of any conflict between Indian and
Pakistan, because we’re still going
to hunt them down,” Bush said.
U.S. officials hope India will step
back from the brink of war after
Musharraf demonstrates that he has
stopped the cross-border infiltra
tion and other support Pakistan has
been giving the militants. The next
step would be talks to resolve differ
ences. India and Pakistan have
fought three wars since they won in
dependence from Britain in 1947.
India and Pakistan conducted
successful nuclear weapons tests in
1998. Altogether, they have de
ployed about 1 million troops along
their border. Daily exchanges of
mortar and artillery barrages have
killed dozens of people and forced
tens of thousands of people to flee
their homes.
Britain, Russia, Japan and other
countries are joining in the diplo
matic effort to avert a war. U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage will visit India and Pak
istan June 6 and 7, just before
Rumsfeld is scheduled to arrive in
the region.
In case diplomacy fails, the U.S.
government is reviewing how it
would get Americans out of the
two countries safely.
U.S. military planners are in In
dia and Pakistan reviewing evacua
tion plans to make sure they are
current, said Marine Corps Gen.
Peter Pace, the vice chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff.
About 60,000 Americans are be
lieved to be in India and several
thousand in Pakistan, said State
Department spokesman Richard
Boucher. They include some 1,100
U.S. troops stationed at three bases
in Pakistan in support of the U.S.
led military operations in
Afghanistan.
The State Department last week
urged Americans to put off visits to
India and Pakistan and told Ameri
cans already in those countries to
consider leaving.
Rumsfeld said he did not know
what leverage the United States
could use on India and Pakistan.
“It seems to me that what you
have is two countries, each of
which has a great many conven
tional forces and nuclear power as
well. It is in their interest as much
as anybody’s” to settle the differ
ences peacefully, Rumsfeld said at
a Pentagon news conference.
The upsurge in tensions
between India and Pakistan
began May 14, when Islamic
guerrillas slaughtered 34 peo
ple, many of them wives and
children of Indian soldiers, in a
raid on a military camp on the
Indian-controlled side of
Kashmir.
India’s Hindu nationalist
dominated ruling coalition
threatens military operations
against Pakistan unless
Musharraf halts the infiltration
into Indian-controlled Kashmir
by Islamic militants waging a
12-year-old insurgency for inde
pendence from New Delhi.
India contends that Pakistan
provides bases, training and arms
for the Kashmiri insurgents as
part of a proxy war aimed at gain
ing Pakistan full control over the
region. Pakistan says it provides
only political and moral support
for the militants.
(Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondent
Drew Brown contributed to this report.)
©2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
-- American Detective*
Fiction
^ James Boren, 10:00-10:50 a.m., MUWH
ENG 399/CRN 40576. Prereq: sophomore
or above _ i _ _
2002 SUMMER SESSION • JUNE 24-AUGUST 16
Register by telephone now. Pick up a free summer catalog
in Oregon Hall or at the UO bookstore.
It has all the information you need to know about x
UO Summer Session. http://uosummer.uoregon.edu/
L/Check'
out our
web site
LOOKING FOR A GREAT HANGOUT THIS SUMMER?
m
XilllP
THEN HEAD TO MT. HOOD
i»Sas...... COMMUNITY COLLEGE
FOR...
I B Q 0 1
i il il i u
Take care of your
Humanities or
language
requirements at an
affordable rate.
It all transfers
toward your degree!
Classes begin June 24.
Call 503-491-6422
for more information.
COLLEGE 2002
Mt Hood
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
26000 SE STARK STREET
Gresham, or 97030
umversiTY
COMMONS
aPaRTmenTs
90 CoMmoNs DRive
338-4000
pcn 7 Davs a
MODeLS
opeN daiLY
x-v- - $&§ * § M
■
Frommss '■ i§§
• PRivarCbepg^J
looses ' ;p
n • CompuTer ran, coi
avakaBiiiry
iieN • Heared swiMMinc; pool. # & 12
• BasKeteaix and votxeyBaix courts
wwWiUnlversitycommons.com
:our raci iiries