| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Pak orders troops to block militants |
| 2002-05-25 |
| Faced with continuous international pressure, including that from the United Nations, Pakistan finally seems to have decided to do something like a tension-lessening exercise. The military commanders of the Musharraf regime, according to officials having access to last Thursday's discussions at the Joint Staff headquarters in Rawalpindi, will take all the ecessary measures to prevent extremists from crossing into Indian territory, says a report in The Washington Post. It's essential for external relations that they make that move. It's essential for internal political reasons that they don't. So they've got to make the move, then they've got to negate it. Which is how we got to this point in the first place. One specific fallout of the meeting is that the army's 10th Corps, deployed in northern Pakistan and facing Indian forces in Kashmir, has been directed to block the mountain routes normally used by militants to cross the border. Since the army's deeply involved in the infiltration process, that shouldn't be a hard thing to do. Whether it's actually done or not is a different story. [Thanks to Suman for that very essential link!] Islamabad, said a minister, has decided to "take a leap forward toward a durable peace with India" by "realigning" its position on terrorist violence after receiving a global assurance that India would also take significant steps to end the Kashmir stalemate over Kashmir, the US daily added. Remember that in the Islamic world, "taking significant steps" means letting you have your way... A day earlier, Musharraf told his Cabinet that Pakistan had to adjust its Kashmir policy to the new global realities without compromising its position that the territory be freed from Indian control, according to a meeting participant. While moving to stem the infiltration, Musharraf's government has also decided to ratchet up its diplomatic and moral support for Kashmiri Muslims resisting Indian control, Pakistani officials said. Unless that statement's purely for internal consumption, which I doubt, that's their out. As soon as the danger of turning radioactive is past, they intend to go back to the same old stuff. That's assuming the Jihadis and their army sympathizers pay the least bit of attention. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |