India means to declare war on Pakistan within a fortnight, according to the Telegraph. "We will call Pakistan's nuclear bluff," one senior Indian officer told the paper. "It cannot deter us any more." The campaign would resemble the US attack on Afghanistan and would target camps run by Islamic militants in the Pakistani portion of Kashmir. Pressure from the US would force a ceasefire within a week, officials in the military believe.
Sure enough, Britain is stepping up pressure on Britons in India and Pakistan to leave the region as soon as possible. Jack Straw now says they "should" leave; last week he advised them to "consider" it, reports the Guardian.
But "almost nobody, unless prompted, is talking of nuclear war" in Islamabad, finds the International Herald Tribune. A test of air-raid sirens was called off last week for fear of alarming the population. It was true that the Pakistani capital could disappear in a moment, said one salesman - "but so would New Delhi and Bombay," he added.
Hopes were raised briefly yesterday when the Indian prime minister offered to consider joint patrols along the Line of Control, adds the Tribune. They faded again when his officials explained that the patrols could only begin once the current crisis was over.
The Independent says the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is going to propose an "Anglo-American military monitoring force" when he visits the region next week. It would probably consist of around 500 troops.
* Go now, Britons told as Kashmir war looms
http://www.guardian.co.uk/kashmir/Story/0,2763,728066,00.html
* Telegraph: India plans war within two weeks http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/06/06/wkash06.xml &sSheet=/portal/2002/06/06/ixport.html
* Tribune: Islamabad disregards missile risk
http://www.iht.com/articles/60395.html
-------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20020606/e1b9d705/attachment.htm>