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American Morning

Tensions Still High Between India and Pakistan

Aired December 31, 2001 - 08:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: On another note here, tensions remain high along the Pakistan-India border. And still, India's Foreign Minister is calling Pakistan's arrest today of an Islamic militant leader "a step in the right direction."

Our Michael Holmes is in New Delhi. He's got the latest for us now on two nuclear neighbors at odds with each other.

Michael, good to see you, happy holiday to you.

What's the situation there at the border right now, can you tell us?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Same to you, Leon. Good morning in Atlanta, good evening from New Delhi.

Yes, words and bullets today, a significant development on the diplomatic front which stems from Pakistan's arrest of the leaders of two groups that India says were behind that December 13 attack on the Indian Parliament which left more than a dozen people dead and led to this current crisis. Those arrests were what India was asking for -- at least goes part of the way to what India was asking of Pakistan.

Everyone here was waiting to see how India would react to what Pakistan had done. And here's what the External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASWANT SINGH, INDIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: If this information is confirmed, then it is a step forward in the correct direction. We hope that such action against terrorist activities targeting India, including Jabul (ph) and Kashmir, would be pursued vigorously until cross-border terrorism in our country is completely eliminated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Yes, the crucial point there, a step forward. It may not sound like much, Leon, but in diplomatic terms, it's the first real positive thing we've heard from the Indian government, that they're happy with at least some of what they've asked Pakistan to do, although you did hear Mr. Singh say that India will be pushing for the complete elimination of cross-border terrorism. Want to tell you about another demand from India today, India handing over a list of 20 names to Pakistan. Those 20 names include people that India says are responsible for terrorism and crime in India, everything from an aircraft hijacking in 1999 to a terrible bombing that took place in Mumbi (ph) in 1993. India says those 20 are in Pakistan. India wants them back, wants them extradited. No word yet how Pakistan is going to receive that demand officially -- Leon

HARRIS: Well, Michael, in the meantime then, does the troop buildup, at least on the Indian side, continue through this holiday?

HOLMES: Plenty of tensions still up there, Leon. In fact, more tension overnight last night than there has been in some time. There were several clashes we were -- we had confirmed to us. The major one was between Pakistan and Indian troops along the line of control. Now there was mortar fire that went on for hours, apparently. There have been skirmishes, small arms fire and machine gun fire in recent days, but nothing like this. This was sustained mortar fire back and forward. Ended up with two Indian soldiers killed and another six injured. It was a -- it was a very serious incident. And of course, what they're worried about here is that a minor incident could spiral out of control and lead to much worse even while the politicians are talking perhaps in a slightly more moderate way. They're worried about things like that happening up there.

There were two other incidents, too, in southern Kashmir, where an army patrol, Indian army patrol, according to Indian police, was attacked by suspected Kashmiri militants. There was an Indian soldier killed, eight of the militants were killed. And another attack in the same region, militants attacking an army camp there. One killed from either side, one militant and one soldier.

I want to point out just one more thing, New Year's eve here in Delhi just a few hours away. It's just after 7:00 p.m. here local time, and just a couple of hours ago, Indian police said they arrested someone that they said belonged to one of those Pakistan-based terrorist groups. They found him with four and a half kilos of explosives and a few detonators. They say, Indian police say, he was planning to do damage here tonight in New Delhi on New Year's eve. He's under arrest right now.

Back to you, Leon, and .have a good New Years.

HARRIS: Same to you, Michael. We appreciate that. Michael Holmes reporting for us live from New Delhi.

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