Pakistan and India Break Off Talks

The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan broke off peace talks here Saturday as soldiers on each side let loose artillery barrages along their disputed Himalayan border.

Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said there was no point in continuing discussions with his Pakistani counterpart, Sartaj Aziz, until the Pakistani government calls off the invasion of Indian Kashmir.

“There is no dialogue,” Singh said after the talks. “I await Pakistan’s response to our demand to vacate their aggression against India.”

The end of the talks followed what appeared to be a failure to find any common ground concerning the fighting--the worst between the two countries in nearly 30 years.

Aziz insisted that the Pakistani government had no role in last month’s invasion by about 600 guerrillas into the mountains of northern India. He argued that the force consisted of Kashmiris who had joined the struggle to overthrow Indian rule in the region.

“Pakistan has never adopted an aggressive position toward India,” Aziz told a gathering after the talks collapsed. “When people are denied their rights for 50 years, they have no option but to fight.”

That left nothing for the two foreign ministers to talk about. The end of the discussions cleared the way for renewed fighting in Indian Kashmir--and seemed to dispel any hope that the specter of a wider war between the two nuclear-armed states will dissipate soon.

The fighting began early May, when a large force of guerrillas crossed the border from Pakistan into India. Armed with sophisticated weapons, they grabbed strategically important positions along the mountaintops. The Indians claim that the Pakistani government was aiding the insurgents--a charge Pakistan has repeatedly denied. The Indian armed forces have launched airstrikes to dislodge the invaders and moved thousands of troops to confront them. Both sides reported heavy shelling Saturday.

The fighting is taking place along the 450-mile disputed border that splits Kashmir, the Himalayan territory that both India and Pakistan claim in its entirety. For nearly a decade, Pakistan has supported fighters who are battling Indian rule in Kashmir. Many analysts here and in the West support Indian claims of Pakistani involvement in the current offensive.

Singh said negotiations between the two countries will not be possible until Pakistan withdraws the force from Indian territory. He said he had received no “direct indications” from Aziz that that will happen.

“We have made our position very clear,” Singh said. “The onus is on Pakistan.”

Aziz said on his return to Pakistan that he had proposed a cease-fire to Singh. It seemed unlikely that India would accept such an offer as long as the armed guerrillas are fighting.

After reiterating that his government had no role in supporting the guerrillas, Aziz seemed to suggest that India was exaggerating an otherwise routine affair. He pointed out that the Kashmiris’ struggle against Indian rule has been going on for a number of years and added that the mountainous border between India and Pakistan, as well as being in dispute, has never been clearly marked.

“Every time the snows melt, the armies try to capture posts,” he said. “It goes on every year.”

Although leaders of both countries seem to have substantial public support for their positions, a few people have stepped forward in recent days to question the fighting.

“What a tragic, pathetic pair the two of us--India and Pakistan--make on the world stage,” wrote Tavleen Singh, a columnist for India Today magazine. “Two of the poorest countries in the world fighting over a problem that should have been solved long, long ago.”