India Blames Pakistan for Increasing Tensions

India’s Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh told a New Delhi news conference that a pull back of India’s military force from the Kashmir border would not be possible until Pakistan halted “cross-border terrorism.”

India maintains that Musharraf allows Pakistan to be used as a staging ground for terror attacks, like the one earlier this month, in which suspected Islamic militants attacked an Indian army camp in the Kashmir region. The strike killed 34 and prompted Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to tell his troops to prepare for a “decisive fight.”

A million Indian and Pakistani soldiers have massed on the border since last December, at times exchanging heavy fire.

Late Monday, Pakistan conducted its third and final test firing of a missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads into India.

Pakistani officials called the tests “routine” but the threat of a possible nuclear exchange has alarmed international leaders and led to a series of visits by foreign envoy to the region.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw met Tuesday with Musharraf in Islamabad to encourage him to act on India’s calls to stop the infiltration of Islamic militants plotting attacks on India. Straw then traveled to the Indian capital later in the day to talk with officials there about averting a possible war.

India’s Singh acknowledged a common desire for a peaceful resolution saying India would match any positive moves.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Richard Armitage is slated to travel to the region later this week on a peace mission.

U.S. officials have expressed concern that the growing dispute could also affect Pakistan’s role in searching for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters who may have fled from neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistan has said it might move troops from the Pakistan-Afghan border, where they are assisting the U.S., to the Kashmir border.

“Pakistan has been enormously, enormously helpful,” Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said. “We remain hopeful that they can and will stay committed to that effort.”