India, Pakistan expel diplomats, block flights

By Laurinda Keys

Associated Press

NEW DELHI, India – India banned Pakistan’s national airline from entering Indian airspace and ordered half of Pakistan’s embassy staff out of the country today in new sanctions amid heightening tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

Pakistan immediately matched India’s sanctions, accusing New Delhi of fanning the crisis and saying it wanted to hold talks to defuse tensions. Still, government spokesman Gen. Rashid Quereshi Pakistan still has “the capacity to react and retaliate in all conceivable ways” – though he said a nuclear confrontation was “unthinkable.”

In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell called leaders on both sides Wednesday, urging them to pull back from confrontation and resolve their differences through dialogue.

China – a powerhouse neighboring both nations – also said today that it was “deeply worried” by India-Pakistan tensions and called for “dialogue and consultations” to keep stability.

With both sides fortifying troops on thier border, fears have risen over the prospect of a new conflict after India accused Pakistan of sponsoring a Dec. 13 gun attack on Parliament in New Delhi that killed 14 people. Islamabad denies the charge.

Accusing Pakistan of “supporting terrorism,” India’s Security Cabinet approved a swath of new diplomatic and economic sanctions today aimed at forcing it to act against two Islamic militant groups India says conducted the Parliament attack.

Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said the new steps were necessary because India’s concerns over terrorism “have not been fully grasped in Pakistan.”

The ban on overflights will take effect on Tuesday; within two days, hald of Pakistan’s embassy staff will be ordered out and the rest restricted to the capital, New Delhi, Singh said. India will at the same time withdraw half its embassy staff from Islamabad.

The Pakistani embassy, or High Commission, was “involved in espionage as well as direct dealings with terrorist organizations,” Singh told reporters without giving any specifics.

Two hours later, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan announced on state television that Pakistan’s overflight ban would start at the same time. He also said half India’s embassy staff would be orderd out. India had already withdrawn its ambassador from Islamabad.

India’s flight ban will likely cause new damage to Pakistan’s ailing economy, coming on top of India’s order banning bus and train service. Pakistan’s flight ban, however, is mostly symbolic: Indian Airlines stopped its only flight to Pakistan – to the port city of Karachi – last month, and international flights out of India have long used routes avoiding Pakistani airspace.

“We have been disappointed by the one-sided Indian action. It will create more tension,” Khan said. “Our desire is that the matter should be resolved through talks, but these Indian steps will further complicate the situation.”

India’s defense minister, George Fernandes, said today that reinforcements along the 1,110-mile border would be in place “in the next two to three days.”

“The forces will be ready for any eventuality,” he told Press Trust of India. Still, “at the moment, India places great emphasis on its diplomatic efforts,” Fernandes said.

A Pakistani military spokesman said there were no exchanges of fire along the frontier, but that Pakistan had matched India’s troop buildup. Witnesses in Karachi, Pakistan, said today that anti-aircraft guns had been deployed at the port and other major installations.

There was no indication that either side had deployed nuclear weapons, which are believed to be stored unassembled.

“Pakistan has been exercising maximum restraint and utilizing diplomatic channels,” Khan said earlier. He said President Gen. Pervez Musharraf was willing to talk with India’s prime minister, raising the possibility that the two might meet at a summit in Nepal next week.

“The ball is in India’s court,” Khan said. “Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, at any level. It is up to India to respond.”

India has confirmed that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will attend the Nepal summit but has said he has no intention of meeting on the sidelines with Musharraf.

The South Asian rivals have fought three wars since gaining independence in 1947 from Britain, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but both claim the Muslim region in its entirety. Since 1989, Islamic militants have waged an insurgency to free India’s portion of Kashmir from the predominantly Hindu nation. Rights groups say 60,000 people have died in Kashmir fighting.

India demands that Pakistan take further action against two Islamic militant groups fighting in Kashmir, which New Delhi blames in the Indian Parliament attack as well. Powell on Wednesday announced that the United States was freezing the assets of the two groups, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Pakistan has frozen the assets of Jaish-e-Mohammed’s parent organization and arrested its leader, Maulana Masood Azhar, and several other members.

But India called the actions “cosmetic,” and demanded that Pakistan shut down training camps, halt recruitment and block militant’s infiltration into India’s portion of Kashmir.

Interior Ministry sources in Islamabad said no action was taken against Lashkar-e-Tayyaba because it has not violated any law in Pakistan.