Posted on 06/01/2002 12:56:57 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jun 01, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Several hundred United Nations international staff in Pakistan have been ordered to send their families home because of increasing fears of a conflict between India and Pakistan, a diplomatic source said Saturday.
"For the time being, we are just saying as soon as possible," said the source, who spoke in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad only on condition of anonymity.
He said a similar order has been issued to U.N. staff in India.
He also refused to say how many U.N. international staff are headquartered in Pakistan, but said the mandatory order would affect "several hundred." Some of these workers are tied to programs in Afghanistan, but have homes in Pakistan
Until the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the induction of the interim regime of Hamid Karzai, the U.N.'s entire Afghan operation was headquartered in Pakistan. Much of it still remains here.
With 1 million soldiers facing off along the tense border that separates India and Pakistan, the United Nations decided the possibility of a conflict between the two nuclear neighbors couldn't be ruled out and ordered dependents of its international workers home.
U.N. officials in Islamabad were scrambling to find flights for their dependents.
On Friday, the United States announced a voluntary evacuation of its nonessential staff from India, also because of fears of a conflict on the troubled Asian subcontinent
In Pakistan, most embassies had already issued evacuation orders.
The United States and Canada withdrew their nonessential personnel after a March 17 bombing of a church in Islamabad that killed four people, including two Americans.
The British mission evacuated about 150 staff last week after receiving "credible" information about a terrorist assault.
Earlier this month, a suicide bomber blew up a Pakistan Navy bus in southern Karachi killing 14 people, including 11 French engineers who were helping Pakistan build a second Agosta submarine.
Since siding with the United States in its war on terrorism in Afghanistan, Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has come under increasing pressure by militant extremists who have called for his overthrow.
But the pressure is also mounting from the United States and other Western powers who have said Musharraf has to do more to stop cross-border incursions into Indian-ruled Kashmir.
There have been indications from militant groups that Pakistani assistance has stopped. Hamid Gul, the former chief of Pakistan's pwoerful spy agency, said, "Now the Pakistan army is being told to stop them from crossing."
He was sharply critical of Musharraf and warned that his actions would enrage Pakistanis.
On Friday, a leaflet was being circulated calling on the Muslim faithful to unite against Musharraf.
U.S. and other Western intelligence have said that al-Qaida and Pakistan-based militant groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Harakat-ul Mujahedeen have close ties. There are reports that these militant groups, who fight in Indian-ruled Kashmir, are working together to sabotage any attempt at peace between India and Pakistan
"They would like nothing better than a war between India and Pakistan," said one former Pakistan military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "That is a real fear that they will do something and Pakistan will be blamed and a war will begin. Musharraf has no control over these people anymore. I don't think anyone does. They have their own agenda."
Intelligence reports say al-Qaida have found safety in Pakistan's sprawling cities, where like-minded Muslim clerics have given them refuge.
By Associated Press Writer
Wouldn't bother. Things are happening behind the scenes, this will all calm down in a week or two and be forgotten about.
The military standoff at the India-Pakistan border persisted, with India's defense minister saying there is little hope of a swift resolution. In Kashmir, the flash point of two previous wars between India and Pakistan, eight people, including two teen-age boys, died in Saturday violence.
``We are evacuating all the dependents of international staff in Pakistan as soon as possible,'' said Onder Yucer, U.N. security officer in Pakistan. He said the same order was given to U.N. staff in India.
Yucer said ``the situation in totality'' prompted the departure order, including terrorist threats which have caused most embassies in Pakistan to reduce their staffing.
Yucer also refused to say how many U.N. international staff are headquartered in Pakistan, but said the mandatory order would affect ``several hundred.'' Some of them are connected with programs in Afghanistan, but live in Pakistan. There are 260 dependents of U.N. employees in India.
``This is not a product of any assessment that the situation is getting more dangerous by the minute, but an attempt to deal with the potential situation before it develops,'' said Feodor Starcevik, a spokesman for the United Nations in New Delhi.
Until the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and its replacement with the interim regime of Hamid Karzai, the U.N.'s entire Afghan operation was headquartered in Pakistan. Much of it still remains here.
U.N. officials in Islamabad were scrambling to find flights for their dependents and were considering chartering aircraft.
The departure order came a day after the United States announced a voluntary evacuation of its nonessential staff from India, concerned that the neighbors may be inching closer to war.
Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France and South Korea released similar warnings to their nationals in India. Most already had issued similar advice for Pakistan, where there have been several deadly attacks targeting foreigners this year.
Much of the bad blood between India and Pakistan stems from their dispute over Kashmir, a divided Himalayan province which both claim in its entirety. Both countries tested nuclear weapons in 1998, raising the stakes in their long-standing rivalry.
Tensions rose after a deadly December attack on the Indian parliament that India blamed on Pakistan-based militants. The militants want to wrest Kashmir away from India. At least 60,000 people have died in Kashmir since 1989.
The two sides mobilized a total of 1 million troops on their border after the Parliament attack. The dispute escalated further last month when militants raided an Indian army base in Kashmir, killing 34 people, most of them the wives and children of soldiers.
India accuses Pakistan of supporting the militants and is threatening military action if Pakistan does not stem the cross-border raids. Pakistan says it gives only moral support to the guerrillas and is doing all it can to stop terrorist attacks.
Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said Saturday there was no sign of a reconciliation with Pakistan.
``There is still no coming closer in sight,'' Fernandes told The Associated Press in Singapore, where he attended an Asian defense summit. On Friday, he said the situation on the border with Pakistan was ``stable'' despite almost daily exchanges of fire across the frontier.
In Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state, a 14-year-old boy, Bilal Ahmad Dagga, was killed and 14 civilians injured in a grenade explosion.
The grenade, which also injured two Indian soldiers, was lobbed into the street by suspected Islamic militants, the state police control room said.
In Nihalpora, 22 miles north of Srinagar, one unidentified guerrilla was killed in a gun battle with Indian paramilitary forces, according to Border Security Force officials. A teen-age boy was killed in the cross fire and two soldiers were wounded.
Three more civilians were killed and three were wounded by Pakistani shelling further south along the border, according to army spokesman Lt. Col. Harjeet Singh Oberoi.
On the Pakistani side of the Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, two women were killed and eight people injured in cross-border shelling in the Kotli district, Pakistani army Brig. Istikar Ali Khan said.
He said 43 civilians have been killed and another 175 wounded in the recent escalation of tensions, while Indian firing was getting more intense every day.
``We silence the enemy guns when they fire unprovoked on the civilian population,'' Khan told reporters Saturday during a military tour on the border.
Casualty reports on both sides could not be independently verified.
President Bush has pressured Pakistan -- an ally in the war on terrorism but also a country that is home to many Muslim extremists -- to halt cross-border attacks.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday the Bush administration expects Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to use all his authority to stop the influx of extremists from Pakistani territory into India ``and to keep it stopped so that we can get this crisis behind us.''
Powell told the British Broadcasting Corp. it is too early to confirm whether the infiltration by militants had ended.
``When and if it does stop, it must also stop permanently,'' he added. ``It can't be something where you turn a tap on or off.''
Pakistan on Saturday denied reports that Musharraf had just recently ordered his troops in Kashmir to halt the cross-border infiltration by militants. Musharraf repeatedly has said he moved to wipe out the export of terrorism in January.
``We can't say first we are doing this thing and now we are not,'' said Musharraf spokesman Gen. Rashid Quereshi. ``What we are saying simply is that ... Musharraf in his January 12 speech made it clear that Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used for export of terrorism and extremism.''
After that speech, Musharraf arrested thousands of suspected Islamic extremists and banned several militant groups. Last week, Musharraf claimed cross-border incursions by Pakistan-based Islamic militants had ended.
Pakistan has moved some troops away from the Afghan border, where they are helping U.S. forces in their campaign to flush out al-Qaida and Taliban militants. Islamabad is considering redeploying the soldiers to the Indian frontier.
In New Delhi, U.S. Embassy spokesman Gordon Duguid said Saturday that 50 Americans left overnight after the State Department advisory. He said many Americans already were scheduled to leave for summer holiday and there was no panic.
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