International Peace Push For Kashmir

While India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee left for a weekend break in the Himalayan foothills on Friday, the European Union Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten, had his work cut out for him.

Patten met with senior Indian officials, including Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, in New Delhi on Friday. "The situation is really bleak," Patten’s spokeswoman, Emma Udwin, told DW-WORLD.

According to Udwin, who is accompanying Patten, the Commissioner feels Pakistan must take measures to show it means business. "Action is necessary and Mr Patten feels that India’s patience is being stretched to the breaking point," she said.

New Delhi is demanding that Pakistan crack down on Islamic militants. It accuses Pakistan of arming and sending militants into Kashmir, where it has battled a Muslim rebellion for 12 years. Pakistan says it only provides moral and political support.

More than a million men backed by missiles, tanks and fighter planes are facing off across the border. But some observers say Vajpayee's three-day weekend break in the hill resort of Manali is being interpreted as a signal that war is not imminent.

An international task

Patten (seen here with Singh) is the first of a series of top foreign envoys bound for the subcontinent.

He is due to be followed by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw next week. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is expected to visit the region from June 4.

All three want to try to ease tensions between the nuclear rivals, who have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.

But Udwin stressed that Patten’s mission was mainly about fighting terrorism. "We are not taking sides and we are not mediating in this conflict," she said.

If Pakistan was supporting the war against terror in Afghanistan, it must also do so within its own borders. "The same principles hold all over."

UN calls for the "language of peace"

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is increasingly concerned by the "alarming" rise in tension between India and Pakistan, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

Annan has been in close contact with the leaders of both sides "to encourage them to resolve their differences, including over Kashmir, by peaceful means", Eckhard said.

Stressing the need to replace the logic and language of war with the logic and language of peace, the Secretary-General has reiterated his "unconditional condemnation "of all acts of terrorism.

"There can be no tolerance for such acts, especially across the line of control in Kashmir," Eckhard said. Annan has urged Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf to take "vigorous action" to implement his commitment to curb terrorism.