KASHMIR: Tension between India and Pakistan rose markedly yesterday, with New Delhi calling for its arch-rival to be declared a terrorist state and Islamabad boasting it had exposed India's troop weakness.
The exchanges came in the wake of a massacre of Hindus in southern Kashmir at the weekend allegedly perpetrated by heavily-armed Muslim militants posing as Hindu holy men.
Indian Defence Minister Mr George Fernandes made it clear during debate on the massacre in parliament that New Delhi holds Pakistan responsible for the killings.
"This terrorism will not last even a minute if Pakistan does not want it," Mr Fernandes said during the stormy debate in the lower house of parliament, during which the BJP-led coalition government came under attack from the opposition for failing to protect citizens.
An angry Deputy Prime Minister Mr Lal Krishna Advani accused Pakistan of failing to keep its promise to dismantle militant camps and stop the flow of rebels into Indian Kashmir.
Across the border, Pakistan launched 10 days of war games, with President Pervez Musharraf urging troops to maintain "their edge over the adversary" and boasting that Indian troop weaknesses had been exposed.
The nuclear-capable neighbours have had around a million troops deployed along their shared border for the past seven months, following a bloody December attack on India's parliament which New Delhi blamed on Islamic militants operating out of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, further violence was reported in Kashmir yesterday, with police reporting 24 people injured in two grenade explosions.
- (AFP)