DATE=2/20/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PAK - INDIA EXPULSIONS (L)
NUMBER=2-259368
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=ISLAMABAD
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Pakistan has ordered the expulsion of three
Indian diplomats for alleged spying. The expulsion
order follows India's expulsion of three Pakistani
diplomats on Friday. VOA's Jim Teeple reports the
expulsions come on the one-year anniversary of a
summit between the two countries, which was supposed
to bring peace to the region.
TEXT: A terse statement from Pakistan's Foreign
Ministry says the three Indian diplomats were being
asked to leave Islamabad for what it says were
"activities incompatible with their official status."
India's Foreign Ministry issued an almost identical
statement on Friday when it expelled three Pakistani
diplomats.
Both countries expel each other's diplomats on a
regular basis but tensions have risen dramatically
between the two countries since Kashmiri separatists
hijacked an Indian Airlines plane in December. India
says Pakistan was involved in the hijacking - a charge
Pakistan denies.
The expulsions also occur as both countries have
stepped up artillery and mortar shelling along the
"line of control," the cease-fire line which divides
the state of Jammu and Kashmir which both countries
claim in its entirety. India controls two-thirds of
Kashmir and Pakistan one-third. Two of the three wars
India and Pakistan have fought have been over Kashmir.
In recent days at least six civilians have been killed
by Indian shells falling on the Pakistani side of the
"line of control." In recent weeks scores of
civilians have been killed on both sides. Last week
India conducted large-scale military exercises in its
state of Rajasthan, which borders Pakistan - a move
Islamabad called threatening. Speaking to reporters
recently, Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez
Musharraf said as high as tensions are they are not
likely to result in war between India and Pakistan.
// MUSHARRAF ACTUALITY //
Every one knows this has nuclear overtones also so
therefore war would be very harmful to both sides.
Both sides are mature enough to understand that and I
am pretty sure that is not the aim of either of the
two countries.
// END ACTUALITY //
Both India and Pakistan tested nuclear devices in 1998
and last year both countries tested long range
ballistic missiles believed to be capable of carrying
a nuclear warhead. Both countries have also resisted
joining nuclear non-proliferation agreements such as
the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which bans all
nuclear testing.
The reciprocal expulsions of diplomats between New
Delhi and Islamabad comes just one year after the
leaders of India and Pakistan met at a historic summit
in Lahore to talk peace. On February 20th last year
India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee traveled
to Lahore on a bus to meet with Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif who was later ousted in a
military coup last October.
However shortly after the summit was concluded Indian
troops discovered guerrilla infiltrators on their side
of the ""line of control,"' who had crossed over from
Pakistan. After weeks of fighting Pakistan agreed to
work to withdraw the infiltrators but ever since
relations have been tense between South Asia's two
nuclear neighbors. (Signed)
neb/jlt/plm
20-Feb-2000 07:32 AM EDT (20-Feb-2000 1232 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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