Pakistan urges "de-escalation" with India

29/12/2008| IslamWeb

Pakistan and India should reduce tension inflamed by last month's militant attacks in Mumbai and resume a peace dialogue, Pakistani military chiefs told a visiting Chinese official on Monday.

 

India has blamed Pakistan-based militants for the assault on Mumbai in which 179 people were killed, reviving old hostilities between the nuclear-armed rivals and raising fears of conflict.

 

Indian and Pakistani military officials held an unscheduled hotline call on the weekend as China's Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei arrived in Pakistan to ease tension between the neighbors.

 

The Chinese minister met military chiefs and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday.

 

The chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff committee, General Tariq Majid, reiterated Pakistan's commitment to regional peace and cooperation, the military said.

 

He emphasized the need for avoidance of provocative belligerent posturing, initiation of reciprocal measures for immediate de-escalation and earliest resumption of the peace dialogue," the military quoted Majid as telling He.

 

India has put a "pause" on a five-year peace process.

 

Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani "highlighted the need to de-escalate and avoid conflict in the interest of peace and security," it said.

 

The South Asian neighbors both tested nuclear weapons in 1998. They have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 and came to the brink of a fourth after gunmen attacked the Indian parliament in December 2001.

 

Although most analysts say war is very unlikely, international unease is growing and the United States has urged both sides not to further raise tension.

 

Senior military officials from India and Pakistan held an unscheduled conversation on a hotline at the weekend, said a Pakistani security officer, who declined to be identified.

 

The two countries' directors general of military operations talk every Tuesday, but spoke at the weekend because of "the current situation," said the officer. He did not give details.

 

Pakistan has condemned the Mumbai attacks and has denied any state role, blaming "non-state actors."

 

PHOTO CAPTION

 

An Indian soldier stands guard at the India-Pakistan Wagah Border Post crossing on December 28.

 

AFP