Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

Kashmir
braced for a possible war. 16
A series of suicide attacks by militants on a bus and in the residential
quarters of an Indian army camp in Kaluchak in Kashmir on 14 May
2002 killed 35 people, mainly women and children, and brought the
region closer to the nuclear precipice. Free of Islamabad’s control,
the militants had tried to push the two countries towards a military
conflict. India quickly moved its forces to forward positions on war
alert. It also expelled Pakistan’s ambassador, closing the last line
of direct communication with Islamabad. With missiles and heavy
weapons in place, an Indian attack appeared imminent between
29 and 31 May. 17 Nuclear signalling from both sides reminded the
world of the gravity of the situation. Some Pakistani leaders openly
warned of using nuclear weapons to counter India’s overwhelming
conventional military superiority. 18 In the third week of May, Pakistan
tested a series of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and stepped up its
nuclear weapons programme. 19
As the world faced perhaps its tensest nuclear stand-off since
the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, the USA and Britain launched
frantic diplomatic efforts to defuse the situation. President Bush and
Colin Powell called the Indian and Pakistani leaders several times,
urging them to pull back. On 28 May, the British Foreign Secretary,
Jack Straw, visited Islamabad and asked Musharraf to take tougher
measures to counter cross-border terrorism. He reminded Pakistan
that as a UN member it had the responsibility to bear down ‘effectively
and consistently on all forms of terrorism, including cross-border
terrorism’. 20 In Delhi the next day, Straw called on the Indian leaders
to exercise restraint. He also told them that Musharraf had promised
to close down ‘terrorist camps’ operating in Pakistani-administered
Kashmir and curb infiltration into India.
Serious strains had emerged in relations between Washington and
Islamabad after reports that the ISI was still linked with the militant
groups. On 31 May, Colin Powell publicly accused Pakistan of
continuing infiltration across the Line of Control, despite Musharraf’s
assurance that it would be halted. 21 The following day, Musharraf
told the BBC that he had issued instructions to end the crossing and
stop all militant activities. But the statement did not satisfy the Bush
administration which had demanded that Pakistan shut down crossborder
infiltration permanently. ‘When and if, it does stop, it must also
stop permanently,’ Colin Powell retorted. International patience was
clearly running out with Musharraf’s game of deception.
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