Peace efforts hitting stumbling blocks

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf refused Tuesday to renounce first use of nuclear weapons, as efforts to bring him together with his Indian counterpart to defuse tensions over Kashmir appeared to fail.

In New Delhi, a senior Indian government official told The Associated Press on Tuesday that India was paying close attention to diplomatic pressure being applied by Washington and other capitals. The Americans had persuaded India's government to show restraint, at least for now, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Secretary of State Colin Powell pledged "a full-court diplomatic press" on the two nations.

"It would be absolutely horrible in the year 2002 for any nation to use nuclear weapons in a situation such as this," Powell said Tuesday while attending an international conference in Barbados.

Trying to keep diplomatic efforts alive, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders met separately with Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at an Asian summit in Kazakhstan and, according to Musharraf, invited them to Moscow for possible talks. The discussions presumably would try to prevent the conflict from exploding into a fourth full-scale war between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

Musharraf accepted the invitation, but the timing of the proposed meeting was vague, and the Kremlin said Vajpayee was not invited.

Putin will visit India late this year.

Tuesday morning, the two leaders angrily blamed each other for more than five decades of conflict as they sat across a table while their troops fired at each other in the disputed Kashmir region.

Musharraf, when asked to state Pakistan's nuclear policy and explain why it will not renounce first use of nuclear weapons as India has, said: "The possession of nuclear weapons by any state obviously implies they will be used under some circumstances."

He said, however, that it would be irresponsible for a leader to discuss such things, and that Pakistan's "deeper policy" is for denuclearization of South Asia.

India National Security Adviser Brajesh Misra responded, "We will not be the first to use nuclear weapons. I hope the enormity of the use of nuclear weapons is understood by the president of Pakistan."

Earlier Tuesday at the summit, Vajpayee said: "Nuclear powers should not use nuclear blackmail."

Russia and China pressed India and Pakistan to enter face-to-face talks, but the effort failed to bring Musharraf and Vajpayee together for a direct meeting.

"India is continually threatening Pakistan for an attack and also refusing dialogue," Musharraf said after meeting with Putin.

Vajpayee said Tuesday he is willing to have a dialogue with Pakistan but that there must first be a halt to cross-border terrorism, which India says is carried out in its part of Kashmir by Pakistan-based Islamic militants who have been fighting for 12 years.

After meeting both leaders, Putin said they showed "positive signs" and that neither intends to use force to solve their problems. India repeated its policy of no first use of nuclear weapons, Putin said earlier, while Musharraf "said on the territory of Pakistan there won't be militants. This is what the whole world eagerly awaited from the two leaders."

But with no breakthrough in sight, some of the 1 million Indian and Pakistani soldiers posted along both sides of the 1,800-mile frontier unleashed fresh artillery and gunfire at each other in Kashmir on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but eight civilians died in shelling Monday.

Earlier Tuesday, as Musharraf sat about 15 feet across from the Indian leader at a long, horseshoe-shaped table in the Kazakh city of Almaty, Musharraf insisted his country did not want the conflict to erupt.

"We do not want war. If war is imposed on us, we will defend ourselves with the utmost resolution," he said.

"The people of South Asia continue to pay a heavy price for the refusal by India to resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with resolutions of the United Nations and the wishes of the Kashmiri people."

In response, Vajpayee rejected Musharraf's repeated assurance that "Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used for any terrorist attacks outside or inside its boundaries."

Vajpayee said violence in India's portion of Kashmir and infiltration of Islamic militants from Pakistani territory had not decreased since Musharraf first made that assurance Jan. 12.

"We have seen in the following months that cross-border infiltration has increased, violence in Jammu and Kashmir has continued unabated and terrorist camps continue to operate unhindered across our borders," Vajpayee said of India's northernmost state.

"We have repeatedly said that we are willing to discuss all issues with Pakistan, including Jammu and Kashmir. But for that, cross-border terrorism has to end."

Vajpayee and Musharraf both sat with pursed lips and stony stares as the other spoke. With the 14 other delegates, they signed a declaration condemning "all forms and manifestations of terrorism" and promising "to strengthen cooperation and dialogue."

When delegates mingled and greeted each other as the conference ended, the two stood on opposite sides of the room and did not interact.

"We cannot but be concerned about the explosive situation in the relations between Pakistan and India, which threatens to destabilize the situation in the whole Eurasian continent," Putin said, adding that world leaders would make every effort to defuse the crisis.

India says Islamic militants crossing the frontier from Pakistan have carried out terror attacks, including a deadly assault on the Indian Parliament in December and on an Indian army base in Kashmir last month, which left 34 dead, mostly wives and children of army officers.

Pakistani Information Minister Nisar Memon insisted Monday that the militants had not come from his nation's part of Kashmir and said his country had stepped up monitoring of the Line of Control, the 1972 cease-fire line dividing the Himalayan region between India and Pakistan.

Both nations claim all of it and the dispute has caused two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld is expected in the region this weekend, and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is due to visit Pakistan and India this week.

Also, the State Department is due to issue new travel warnings Tuesday strongly urging the more than 60,000 Americans in the region to depart, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.

This is a tougher approach than past statements urging Americans to consider leaving.