Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=06/06/02

TYPE=WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=KASHMIR BORDER DISPUTE

NUMBER=6-125703

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: With tensions remaining high along the disputed Jammu and Kashmir border between India and Pakistan, the world media continues to view the situation with alarm. We get a sampling now from V-O-A's __________in this World Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: With more than a million men under arms on the two sides of the border, each side equipped with a small arsenal of nuclear weapons and the rockets to launch them, outside efforts are being made to reduce the tensions.

U-S Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is in the area and Thursday told reporters that Pakistan wants to avoid war. That was after he met with President Pervez Musharraf. But adding to the tension was a report from New Delhi alleging that an Indian diplomat who was deported from Pakistan had been tortured by Pakistani intelligence. Mr. Armitage intends to meet with Indian officials.

However an Indian foreign ministry spokeswoman said Thursday that India would not agree to any third-party monitoring of the disputed border. India wants joint patrols with Pakistan to stop cross-border raids of Kashmiris into Indian-controlled areas of the disputed province. In the two nations, the press is following the line of their respective governments, and talking about the failure of the Indian and Pakistani leaders to meet at the recent Asian summit in Kazakhstan. The Nation, a nationally distributed daily in Pakistan suggests:

VOICE: After Pakistan accepted practically every serious suggestion by the international community, it is India's turn to be lectured on the need to preserve peace. A slight attempt in [that] direction was made on Tuesday when Mr. Armitage advised New Delhi to act responsibly.

TEXT: In Karachi, another national daily Dawn has this reaction to the Kazak conference.

VOICE: By denouncing terrorist acts 'whenever, wherever and whoever may commit them' and stating that no considerations whatsoever may be used to justify such act, the Almaty declaration leaves little room for a proper understanding [of] the struggles in Kashmir and Palestine, where . people are fighting against injustice.

TEXT: In Islamabad, the English-language Pakistan Observer comments:

VOICE: Unfortunately, it is [Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari] Vajpayee, who is neither ready to de-escalate nor is prepared to hold dialogue with Pakistan and is thus bent upon keeping the region hostage to his whimsical stance of the so-called cross-border terrorism.

TEXT: And in the News, another national daily, we read:

VOICE: Without unnecessarily indulging in hair-splitting to prove whether joint patrols or international monitors are better, the point needs to be realized that given the present level of suspicion between the two states, the outcome of joint patrols will mean more disputes along every meter of the LoC [Line of Control].

TEXT: Turning to the Indian press, and first to New Delhi, in the Hindustan Times, there is this assessment.

VOICE: [Prime Minister] Vajpayee's observation that India may consider joint patrolling of the border . represents a change of mood. If cross-border terrorism reduces, it will initiate a process of de-escalation, leading to a gradual improvement in mutual ties. .. The problem obviously is the lack of trust between the two sides. And the man who is responsible for creating the mistrust is none other than General Pervez Musharraf.

TEXT: In the Indian Express, an editorial suggests that:

VOICE: General Musharraf's claim that there is no movement of terrorists across the Line of Control is hardly credible. His proposal for international monitoring is an ingenious method of obfuscating the critical issues .The permanent answer to the challenge of cross-border infiltration of terrorists would be a change of policy in Pakistan. It is not clear how any joint patrolling by India and Pakistan would produce any credible results.

TEXT: In the Hindi-language Rashtriya Sahara we read this somewhat upbeat assessment of the Kazakhstan meeting.

VOICE: Almaty's . final declaration . is itself . a diplomatic victory for India. [Mr.] Musharraf took a pledge to curb all forms of terrorism, but for him it will be a difficult task. No more does his writ run among the terrorist groups.. The new master of the terror groups is the al-Qaida. India should keep up the pressure on Pakistan, until it publicly denounces terrorism in Kashmir.

TEXT: Lastly, in another Hindi-language daily Navbharat Times, the paper is cool to the idea of third nation patrolling along the disputed border.

VOICE: Certain countries like Britain and Japan have suggested international patrolling on Indo-Pak border, but this will open the way to foreign interference. The world community expects Pakistan to check infiltration, but it would not like to leave the verification process to India.

TEXT: Turning to Western Europe, London's Telegraph in Britain asks:

VOICE: Who would benefit from a resumption of large-scale conflict? Not the populations of either side, the political leadership, nor the Western allies. Beneficiaries would, rather, be religious fanatics.The two men now find themselves eyeball to eyeball along their common border, neither wishing to lose face by backing down.

TEXT: For a German reaction to the latest news, we check in with Bavaria's big daily in Munich, the Sueddeutsche Zeiting which suggests:

VOICE: In the end, the Kashmir conflict can be solved only if the status of Kashmir is settled once and for all. .India has been ignoring U-N resolutions on Kashmir's right to self-rule for decades. India's leaders know who the Muslim majority in Kashmir would support. . Anyone who wants peace in Kashmir has to consider these realities.

TEXT: A Russian daily, Vremya MN in Moscow, takes a historical view, noting:

VOICE: As Moscow and Washington try hard to mediate the Indian-Pakistan conflict, New Delhi won't hear of intervention from third countries. . New Delhi believes that Jawaharlal Nehru made a mistake by letting the U-N play a role in deciding Kashmir's fate half a century ago.

TEXT: Turning to the Low Countries, we read in The Netherlands daily De Volkskrant that:

VOICE: India said it [will] only talk if Pakistan ends the infiltration of Islamic terrorists into the Indian part of Kashmir. This Indian demand seems justified, particularly because these Islamic terrorist groups are aiming at confrontation and it is no secret that until recently they received support from the Pakistani army...

TEXT: On that view, we conclude this limited sampling of the world's press on the current situation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.

NEB/ANG/RH