War of Words at Asia Summit

The leaders of India and Pakistan traded charges in Kazakhstan today at the opening of a regional security summit, as Russian President Vladimir V. Putin aimed to persuade the two nuclear powers to pull back from the brink of war over the disputed region of Kashmir.

By a quirk of circumstance, this city in the heart of Central Asia, a place hardly anyone has heard of, has become the stage for a meeting of high drama and global importance.

“We are concerned about conflict in South Asia,” Kazakh President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev intoned in a speech opening the first meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia. “We wish and call upon our neighbors to achieve a peaceful resolution of the problems.”

With India and Pakistan on the verge of war, he stressed, times call for “reserve and responsibility.” Putin is spearheading an international press to persuade the two nuclear powers to pull back from the brink and start a process of de-escalation and dialogue.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, in his plenary speech, denied any guilt by Pakistan in the recent attacks in India or the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir by Islamists seeking to wrest that part of the disputed Himalayan territory from New Delhi’s control.

“Targeting of innocent people cannot be justified under any circumstances. We do and we must reject terrorism in all of its forms and manifestations,” he said.

“However, there is also a need for introspection,” Musharraf said. The causes of extremism must be addressed, including “eliminating injustice” in Kashmir.

The Pakistani general pledged that his nation stands ready to respond if attacked, but he ended with a plea for peace. “We need to return to the path of dialogue and negotiations,” he said.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, speaking a little later, responded to Musharraf’s speech directly. He said that Pakistan had not lived up to promises it made earlier this year to end “cross-border terrorism” and charged that “terrorist camps operate unhindered” along the border.

“Regrettably, the settlement of conflicts with the help of dialogue has been facing a strong opponent lately. Its name is terrorism, which is supported by religious extremism,” he said.

“We have repeatedly said we are ready to discuss all issues, but for that, cross-border terrorism has to end,” Vajpayee declared. He said states should not indulge in nuclear blackmail, repeating earlier pledges that India will not be the first to use nuclear weapons.

On the edges of the meeting, representatives of the two nations were trying to convince the world they were more level-headed and peace-loving than the other. But for other participants in the summit, it was hard to escape a stark fear that any miscalculation could bring about a catastrophe.

“Just the fact of the leaders of India and Pakistan being in the same place at this particular moment is potentially positive,” said one diplomatic observer. “We do see this as a serious opportunity.”

The coincidence that brought Vajpayee and Musharraf to Kazakhstan at this time was the first meeting of the new Asian security conference, called CICA for short. The organization is meant to be Asia’s version of the Helsinki process, which evolved into the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Conceived by Nazarbayev in 1992, for many years it seemed a quixotic dream on his part to create a forum where all countries of the continent could exchange views on questions of mutual security on an equal footing.

Slow and patient diplomacy on Nazarbayev’s part--coupled perhaps with the realization that Kazakhstan’s newly tapped oil wealth near the Caspian Sea may eventually make this nation an economic power to be reckoned with--have helped make the dream a reality.

Almaty’s streets have been decked out in the flags of the 16 nations participating, creating the rather incongruous sight of the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran fluttering once removed from Israel’s blue-and-white Star of David banner.

In a flower-bedecked conference room, the heads of state and government sat around a rectangular bank of tables. Musharraf was seated next to Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Neither Vajpayee nor Musharraf, seated a few feet away, made any apparent effort to greet or talk with each other.

Putin volunteered to lend his efforts to ease the crisis between India and Pakistan at Almaty, and he has scheduled separate meetings with both Musharraf and Vajpayee. Addressing the plenary meeting a few hours after arriving in Almaty from Moscow, he said the conflict between the two had caused great concern.

Putin has been riding a crest of diplomatic successes over the last two weeks, including his summit in Russia with President Bush and a meeting with the European Union during which the EU promised to recognize Russia’s status as a free-market economy.

But going into today’s meeting, Putin’s spokesmen were giving no hints of what arguments or program he would outline to Vajpayee and later to Musharraf during their meetings this evening.

Indian officials are angered by attacks from “jihadists,” who New Delhi says are based in Pakistan and are responsible for about 900 deaths in India since March. Tensions reached a peak after militants raided an Indian army camp on May 14, killing more than 30 people. That prompted both sides to mass more troops along the Line of Control that divides the disputed territory of Kashmir, and led to ominous warnings from India that the time for diplomatic solutions was running out.

On Monday, India and Pakistan exchanged intense artillery and machine-gun fire along their frontier, killing at least eight civilians--seven Pakistanis and one Indian. Fighting spread for the first time this year to the Lipa Valley, in the southeastern part of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, sources in Muzaffarabad, the region’s capital, told Associated Press. Indian officials have claimed that the valley is a staging area for Pakistan-based militants seeking to infiltrate the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir.

Thousands of villagers living on both sides of the Line of Control have fled, Indian and Pakistani officials said. On Monday, Norway and Israel joined the list of countries warning their citizens against traveling to the region.

In Almaty, Russian Foreign Ministry officials said they were holding out hope that Putin would be able to engineer a three-way meeting of himself, Vajpayee and Musharraf, but the Indians have said it is not in the cards.

“No matter what other countries’ opinions are, India’s opinion is very clear, and that is that we are not meeting Musharraf here,” Deputy Indian Foreign Minister Omar Abdullah said Monday, with evident impatience.

Nevertheless, he said, “Obviously we are going to listen to what President Putin has to say.”

Historically, Russia has had a close friendship with India, but its relations with Pakistan have been poor--though improving recently. Whether Putin’s efforts succeed or fail, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld are to arrive in South Asia later this week to apply more direct American pressure.

In his talks to reporters Monday, including a handful from India, Pakistani Information Minister Nisar Memon insisted that Pakistan would be tireless in its search of a solution to the crisis.

“The president of Pakistan has come here in search of peace. He has come here in search for dialogue with India on all outstanding issues,” he said.

But Brajesh Mishra, India’s national security advisor, was leery of the assurances. “Gen. Musharraf has made some promises. And if these promises are implemented and we can verify them, then we will take appropriate steps. But the emphasis is on implementation.”

As to nuclear weapons, he said: “We want to [have] them as a deterrent. But if someone uses them against us, obviously there would be a response. But I want to emphasize, we don’t want to indulge in any loose talk about nuclear weapons. We just want to avoid talking about them.”