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Pressure may mount for fresh talks on Kargil

George Iype in New Delhi

Notwithstanding the diplomatic morale booster India has received from American President Bill Clinton, the government fears international pressure will mount for a second round of bilateral talks with Pakistan if the conflict in Kargil continues.

After talks between External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz failed on Saturday, India has maintained it is not ready for another round of dialogue till Pakistan pulls its troops out of Kargil.

External affairs ministry officials said India wants Pakistan to withdraw from Kargil as advised by Clinton. "We are ready and willing for any bilateral dialogue, but only after Pakistan decides to end the intrusions into our territory," an MEA spokesman said.

"The conflict in Kargil will be over the moment Pakistan decides to undo the aggression there," he added.

But Indian officials handling the crisis in Kargil said they are walking a tightrope. The international community is bound to turn the heat on India and Pakistan to resume peace talks if the infiltrators are not flushed out of the mountains soon.

"If our operations in Kargil continue for many weeks -- which is quite likely -- India will be under tremendous pressure to agree to another round of bilateral talks," a senior official told rediff.com.

He said Pakistan has already publicised that it is ready for dialogue to resolve the crisis, but a 'rigid' India refuses to entertain the idea.

"The world community has so far appreciated our restraint in Kargil. But Western countries have not accepted our position that there is no scope for further talks till Pakistani troops are pulled out," the official admitted.

No Western government, except the US, has agreed with the Indian argument that there cannot be any dialogue until the infiltrators are thrown out or Pakistan moves them back voluntarily.

Therefore, the external affairs ministry, in close consultation with Indian embassies in the Western world, is now engaged in a major diplomatic offensive to convince world leaders that India's readiness for talks cannot but be linked to the vacation of Pakistani aggression.

India's diplomatic efforts are also to make the point in the international community and the United Nations that Pakistan should respect the Line of Control for progress on any peace process.

India is now keenly awaiting the response from the G-8 summit, which starts in Cologne, Germany, on Friday. The group of eight industrialised countries is expected to discuss Kashmir and the conflict in Kargil.

Indian officials anticipate that the summit will not blame India and Pakistan individually for the flare-up, but will certainly issue a statement urging both countries to exercise restraint and sit across the negotiation table.

Many Western countries are still assessing the ground realities of the conflict in Kargil. India says the crisis has been caused by Pakistani aggression. Pakistan accuses India of being the aggressor because of its air and military strikes on the LoC which, Pakistan claims, has been delineated only on maps and not on the ground.

The Kargil Crisis

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