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American Morning

Tensions Easing Over Kashmir

Aired December 31, 2001 - 09:10   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: We want to turn now to another flash point, this one is in Asia. Heavy machine gun and mortar fire along the Indian-Pakistan border today. Two Indian soldiers were killed, we hear, and several were wounded, but there is a sign that tensions could be easing up a bit there. CNN's Tom Mintier is following these developments, and he joins us now, live from Islamabad, Pakistan with the very latest. Happy holidays to you -- Tom.

TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy holidays to you, Leon.

It is the actions that have taken place in Karachi that may impact what's going on in Kashmir. Overnight, there were arrests of 30 people, but one of the leaders of the Islamic militants groups that was, basically, named by India as being responsible for the December 13th attack on the Indian parliament. He was taken into custody not on terrorism charges, but on local Pakastani charges of inciting, and weapons charges, and things like that.

There has been a crackdown, according to the government, not just in the last 24 hours, but in the last several months saying that they have basically tried to stymie the opposition, stymie the militantancy, stymie the terrorism inside Pakistan as well. Saying that the they have preventively locked up a lot of the leaders of these Islamic groups, basically to prevent them from demonstrating and basically to prevent them from causing damage like they did in Quetta right after the bombing campaign started in Afghanistan.

Pakistani President Perves Musharraf held meetings yesterday which lasted about seven hours. These were with domestic political leaders and religious leaders basically outlining his position not only regarding just Afghanistan but domestic policies as well including this crackdown. He said last night that this crackdown and this move against the militant groups was something that he has wanted to do and that he will continue to do to try to bring the situation and keep the situation under control.

Now I asked the foreign ministry spokesman today about the timing. That they could have closed the offices in Karachi a couple of months ago when they were going after other groups. Whether it was indeed designed to counter what's going in Kashmir, and wouldn't answer the question three times saying that it was part of an ongoing operation against militant groups in Pakistan, saying it was not related. There is a possibility that we may see a warming of relations in the next few days. Not here, not in New Delhi, but possibly in Nepal. In Katmandu, there is a South Asian summit that's going to happen at the Foreign Ministry level. The Foreign Minister leaves tonight from Karachi to Katmandu. There may be the possibility that India and Pakistan will meet at that level. It's still remote that the heads of state will meet, but they will be in the room at the same time.

I also asked President Musharraf if he would, indeed, start and initiate conversation with his prime minister counterpart from India. He said he would be sitting across the table, but no idea on which way he would be looking, but everyone is looking and watching and waiting to see if what goes on in Nepal might calm things down in Kashmir. Already a positive sign according to the Pakistanis. The Indians say that this crackdown was seen as a positive step, but they are still waiting for more. A positive step, possibly moving them back from the brink of confrontation.

Just 24 hours ago here everyone was talking about war. Now, they're talking about negotiated settlement, including the president saying that he wanted to direct a message directly to the Indian people saying that Pakistan wanted to de-escalate, wanted to step back, wanted to talk, wanted to negotiate. Waiting now to see if India responds -- Leon.

HARRIS: Definitely does sound like a step in the right direction. Tom Mintier, reporting live for us from Islamabad. Tom, be safe and have a happy New Year.

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