Bush Sends Rumsfeld to India-Pakistan As Violence Continues

Mr. Bush said, ”We are making it very clear to both Pakistan and India that war will not serve their interests,.”

“We are part of an international coalition applying pressure to both parties.”

Responding to a report in USA Today that the government is making plans for the possible evacuation of 1,100 U.S. troops and up to 63,000 U.S citizens from both countries in case of a nuclear confrontation, the president said Secs. Rumsfeld and Powell are “analyzing what it would take to protect American lives if need be.”

The president also reiterated the U.S. demand that Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf keep his promise to stem terrorism in Kashmir, the disputed land between India and Pakistan.

The announcement came after reports of Pakistani troops moving east from the Afghanistan border toward the border with India. Musharraf said no definite decision had been made to move the troops to the Indian border, but at a press conference he said he was “seriously contemplating moving them onto the eastern border if tensions remain as high as they are now.”

“Our security comes first,” he said. “We will use all our resources to protect our security.”

Musharraf’s spokesman added that the pullback would not hinder U.S. and coalition efforts to keep al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives from crossing into Pakistan from Afghanistan. Around 300 British and U.S. troops arrived in the mountainous region this week to shore up border security.

Meanwhile, dozens were killed overnight in cross-border attacks in Kashmir. Two suspected Islamic militants attacked a police base in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing four police officers, before being killed by the army. Indian police said an additional three Indian army soldiers and 11 civilians were killed overnight by artillery shelling and mortar fire from the Pakistani-controlled section of Kashmir.

Pakistan Television reported Indian shelling killed 14 Pakistani civilians. Both reports could not be immediately confirmed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to calm the situation by organizing one-on-one talks between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bhihari Vajpayee in Kazakhstan next week. The Pakistani leader has agreed, but India says attacks by militants crossing from Pakistan must stop first.

Pakistan’s new ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, said his country is dedicated to fighting terrorism, but repeated Pakistan’s position that it would not sign a no-first-use policy — a document that would guarantee Pakistan would not use its nuclear arsenal unless attacked by nuclear weapons. Indian leaders have already signed such a policy.

“India should not have the license to kill with conventional weapons while our hands are tied,” the ambassador said.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, but the stakes are much higher now that both sides have nuclear weapons.

However, both Indian and Pakistani officials have repeatedly said that a nuclear conflict is unlikely.