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India, Pakistan tread lightly after Mumbai attack
By RAVI NESSMAN,Associated Press Writer AP - Wednesday, December 3
MUMBAI, India - Demands for action are being heard across India amid the anger over last week's rampage in Mumbai by militants accused of coming from Pakistan, but leaders of the two nuclear-armed neighbors are striving to keep tensions in check.
Neither country has the appetite for a fourth war in six decades, and both sides seem to be hoping that U.S. diplomacy _ expected to intensify with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's arrival in India on Wednesday _ will defuse the situation, analysts said.
"Nobody is talking about military action," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Tuesday, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
Indian officials blamed the banned Pakistani extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attack, which killed 172 people and paralyzed India's financial capital for three days.
The government called on Pakistani authorities to take strong action against those responsible and to hand over suspected terrorists believed living in Pakistan. But India stopped short of accusing Pakistan's government of any involvement, a charge it has not hesitated to make in the past.
Rice also is urging Pakistan to cooperate fully, saying: "This is a time for absolute transparency and for letting the evidence lead where it may."
Suspicions here are high because Pakistan's powerful Inter Services Intelligence agency is widely believed to have supported Lashkar-e-Taiba in the past and there are doubts whether it has fully cut those ties, even though Pakistan officially banned the group in 2002.
Pakistan's leadership seems to be taking steps to comply with the demands for cooperation.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi offered Tuesday to establish a joint investigation with India and said his government wanted to continue the peace process that began in 2004 and was broadened this year to include cooperation in the fight against terror groups.
"Terrorists must not be allowed to undo the gains made. We are convinced that continuation of the peace process ... is in the larger interest of the people of the two countries," Qureshi said.
The two nations have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 and neither government wants a fourth round.
India fears the consequences a war would have on the huge economic gains it has made in recent years.
"While the (Indian) media and politicians are demanding strong actions, the government must act in a measured manner," said C. Raja Mohan, a leading Indian strategic analyst. "They can't rush in without regard for the consequences of their actions."
Pakistan, meanwhile, is embroiled in its own conflict with Islamic militants on the Afghan border and neither President Asif Zardari _ nor his U.S. ally _ want to see attention shift from that fight.
The subdued rhetoric so far is a marked contrast to early 2002, when tensions escalated rapidly after Muslim militants attacked India's Parliament. India threatened to strike at militant camps inside Pakistan, and both countries rushed troops to the disputed Kashmir region.
However, tensions have thawed in recent years and politicians on both sides are hesitant to move backward.
The bloody assault on Mumbai was different from many previous attacks, said G. Parthasarthy, a former Indian ambassador to Pakistan. With 19 foreigners among the dead, the international community has a big stake in ensuring a credible investigation that leads to the punishment of those involved, he said.
Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan, said that, as in 2002, U.S. mediation will be vital to cooling the crisis.
"If tension between India and Pakistan is defused this time again, it will be because of American influence behind the scenes," Rais said. "I think if India does not consider that kind of mediation, that means it is preparing for a war."
There is intense pressure on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take action, and if Pakistan does not offer substantive cooperation he may have little choice, said Mohan, the analyst.
"After what happened in Mumbai no prime minister in India can sit back on his hands," Mohan said. "The ball is in the Pakistani court."
___
Associated Press writer Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
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