Pakistan Accuses India of Attack, Threatens to Retaliate

A border skirmish threatened to turn into a full-blown international crisis Wednesday, as Pakistani leaders threatened retaliation after accusing India of bombing their territory.

As Indian jets and gunships pounded suspected guerrilla targets along the two nations’ border, Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said his country’s armed forces would strike back if what he termed Indian provocations continued.

“If they attack our positions, we will defend ourselves,” Aziz said. “We will retaliate.”

Aziz’s warning followed an Indian air attack--including missiles, rockets and bombs--against what Indian officials described as a Pakistani-led invasion of as many as 600 guerrillas into Indian territory. Aziz said that the airstrikes hit Pakistani territory and that his government knew nothing of the infiltrators.

“No one knows where they come from and who they are,” he said.

Indian officers denied Wednesday that any of their bombs fell on the Pakistani side of the border and urged an end to military operations against India. Indian officials said their forces had killed 160 foes so far.

“Our troops are fully focused on the aim of destroying the intruders,” Indian Brig. Mohan Bhandari said. “If there is any interference from across the border, we reserve the right to take appropriate action.”

The deteriorating situation in South Asia prompted U.S. Ambassadors Richard F. Celeste in India and William B. Milam in Pakistan on Wednesday to urge leaders of each country to contain their military actions. In Washington, the Clinton administration urged India and Pakistan to settle their differences peacefully.

The fighting, which began earlier this month and reportedly has killed hundreds so far, appears to be the worst in years between the historic rivals. Western diplomats and other observers fear that shooting between the two nations could escalate into a major war and possibly a nuclear exchange.

Friday marks the one-year anniversary of Pakistan’s first tests of nuclear weapons--which came less than three weeks after India’s first tests of such weapons.

The scene of the current fighting is Kashmir--the cause of two of the three wars that India and Pakistan have fought since they gained independence from Britain in 1947. Both countries occupy portions of Kashmir and claim the region in its entirety. Since 1990, Pakistan has supported an insurgency in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, and the conflict there has killed at least 25,000 people.

The two sides regularly shell each other along the Line of Control--a 450-mile stretch of disputed border--and small groups of insurgents often cross into India under the cover of Pakistani shelling. Local commanders usually limit their actions in order to keep their shooting matches from sparking a wider conflict.

Indian and Pakistani claims about this week’s clashes could not be immediately verified because access to the scene was tightly controlled.

Much of the fighting appears to be taking place around Kargil, a remote Indian town set amid glaciers where elevations exceed 10,000 feet. Indian officers say the fighting began earlier this month when a force of about 600 guerrillas crossed from Pakistan into India--presumably to join the insurgency against the Indian government in Kashmir.

The infiltrators have taken up positions a few miles inside India in the Dras, Batalik, Kaksar and Mashkok mountains of northern Kashmir, Indian Maj. Gen. J.J. Singh said. He said the infiltrators had antiaircraft missiles, radar, snowmobiles and sophisticated communications equipment. Indian officers said the infiltrators were accompanied by Pakistani troops.

“It was a brazen act of aggression as far as we were concerned,” Indian Air Commodore Subhash Bhojwani said.

Some observers speculated that Pakistani-based guerrillas may have taken advantage of a dry winter that has left the high mountains in the region largely uncovered by snow.

Pakistani officials charged that the Indian army had cooked up a false story about Pakistani infiltration to mask a military buildup aimed at annexing areas of Pakistan. Brig. Rashid Qureshi, a Pakistani military spokesman, said India had moved about 12,000 soldiers and 70 aircraft into the area in the past three weeks--a buildup that he said far exceeded what the Indian army needed to crush the infiltrators.

Qureshi said more than 100 Indian troops had been killed since May 6, when he said Pakistanis repulsed an attack on the nearby Siachen Glacier.

“We are prepared for all eventualities,” Qureshi said.

An official at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi said Wednesday that Indian leaders had indicated they have no intention of taking their fight into Pakistan.

“Their desire is to respond forcefully but in a limited fashion,” said the U.S. official, who requested anonymity.

Some Western experts said Wednesday that the situation was aggravated by the presence of weak leaders in each country, who appear to be easy targets for each other yet who feel pressure to prove themselves to voters. Pakistan is racked by violence, and the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is riddled with corruption. The Indian government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is awaiting fresh elections.

“Both sides have gone nuclear, and they are under pressure to show the public how tough they are,” said Stephen P. Cohen of the Brookings Institution in Washington. “The consequences could be enormous.”

Times staff writer Norman Kempster in Washington and special correspondent Kamal Siddiqi in Karachi, Pakistan, contributed to this report.