Indian Leader Warns of Coming "Decisive Fight" in Kashmir

Vajpayee, touring key military bases in the boundary area, said Pakistan should recognize India was ready to fight.

“Be prepared for sacrifices. But our aim should be victory. Because it’s now time for a decisive fight,” he said in a speech broadcast live by state television. “Whether our neighbor gets that signal or not, whether the world keeps record of that or not, we will write a new chapter of victory.”

Vajpayee also accused Pakistan of waging a “proxy war” against India via terrorist groups based in Kashmir and parts of Pakistan.

As the prime minister was speaking, Indian naval officials acknowledged they had moved five warships from the eastern Bay of Bengal to its western coast in an effort to bolster its presence near Pakistan.

In Islamabad, Pakistan, the nation’s top military and political leaders called for negotiations to ease current tensions, but added its forces were ready “to meet any contingency resolutely and with full force.”

Despite the warning, the Pakistani government said it would continue to crack down on militant groups operating in their country and the section of Kashmir under their control.

“[T]he government will not allow the territory of Pakistan or any territory whose defense is the responsibility of Pakistan to be used for any terrorist activity anywhere in the world,” the military government said in a statement.

Tensions flared after a Kashmiri separatist attack last week on an Indian military base left 34 dead, including many wives and children of soldiers. Since the strike, dozens more have died in a week of shelling and gunfire across the tense border.

In recent days, international leaders have called for both sides to rely on political means to end their dispute.

“The possibility of war between India and Pakistan is real and very disturbing,” Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who is scheduled to travel to the region next week, told reporters Tuesday. “This is a crisis the world cannot ignore.”

Inside the war-torn Kashmir province, thousands of mourners, many chanting “Freedom for Kashmir,” took part Wednesday in an emotional funeral for separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone. Lone, considered a moderate nationalist, was gunned down Tuesday in a murder called an attack on political peace efforts.