Ananova :

Troops along border as Indo Pakistan war fears grow

India and Pakistan have moved ever closer to war as the rival armies shelled each other in Kashmir and thousands of border villagers were evacuated.

The shelling began after the nuclear-armed rivals exchanged the toughest diplomatic and economic sanctions since their last war in 1971.

Tens of thousands of soldiers, squadrons of fighter jets, artillery and ballistic missiles face each other along the 1,100 miles frontier that extends from the Himalayas in the north through the Thar Desert to the Arabian Sea in the south.

And more are on their way. Pakistan is to move its troops guarding the Afghan border to confront India - leaving the coalition against terrorism in the lurch.

It is also recalling 4,000 troops serving as UN peacekeepers in Sierra Leone.

Both nations rushed troops and weapons to the border after a suicide attack on India's parliament on December 13. India accuses Pakistan of supporting the attackers. Pakistan denies the charge.

Both sides say they do not want war, but each says it is ready.

"There is no measuring scale that we have to say how near or how far we are to war," Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said. "I will just say this: Don't worry. We are ready."

A Pakistani government spokesman, General Rashid Quereshi, responded in kind. "We have the capacity to react and retaliate in all conceivable ways," he said.

India has ordered 5,000 people to leave 17 villages northwest of, Kashmir's winter capital, within 36 hours. Earlier, 24 villages with 10,000 inhabitants were evacuated.

Story filed: 17:43 Friday 28th December 2001

Strange to think Pakistan might bomb some of their own cousins. The Taj Mahal is not Hindu.

(laughs) so now the Pakistani pilots only have to look for the big building covered with a dark cloth? Obviously, this would be a prime target for bombing, especially because of its military significance. By this logic, bin Laden should have crashed planes into Statue of Liberty, rather than WTC

lol... that's what I was thinking too....

To bomb the Taj Mahal, the Pakistani AF would have to penetrate deep into Indian territory. They would have to pass major airbases and fly beyond Delhi.It might have worked if they had air superiority.

If war breaks out, and I think it's 50/50 at this point, and probably the same odds that Pak uses nukes..what will the PRC do? Fascinating question, eh?

Sheesh.

Darn, this is getting worse and worse...

The association that has been prickling my overtired subconcious for two days has finally made itself known...not that it makes any difference, but it shows a little more why war between these countries could be imminent:

India threw a ( highly justified ) fit when the Taliban were blowing up statues of Buddha which predated Islam. The Taliban fanatics believed they were justified in their actions.

The Pakistani governemnt not only supports terrorists in the Indian state of Kashmir...they were the only government to support the Taliban after the UAE dumped their support.

Crazy jihadists care for nothing but their insane jihad.

Black cloth? Should have used tinfoil. Reflects the targeting radar...or attracts it...I can't ever remember.

they have f16s and the Indians only have russians planes

It would be ironic (but somehow appropriate) for the Pakis to destroy the Taj Mahal, which is basically the only Islamic contribution to world civilization in the last 400 years.

So, what does the USA do?

If Pakistan uses its couple of nukes, the PRC will resupply them. Too bad Clinton, Daschle et al blocked missile defense for the past ten years and continue to do so - we are still wide open to Chinese nuclear blackmail.

it watches as the world population go down by a billion or so.

not much, but watch as the world population goes down by a billion or so.

First you have to define 'war' is. Between these two countries, its like two over the hill boxers punching each other senseless(which takes 5 minutes) and then they fall unconscious and when they wake up, things go back to normal.

Seriously though, neither side is going to use nukes for the same reason the US and USSR didn't, that little thing called mutual assured destruction, although I doubt either side in the case of India/Pakistan have enough weapons to assure anything. If a madman were in charge of either one of the countries, I'd be concerned, maybe. Some here though want to paint it as WWIII or Armageddon, its almost as though they yearn for such a thing.

They have 28 working F-16's. India has the Mig-29. The key difference is that the Indian AF Mig-29's are equipped with BVR missiles while the older Pakistani F-16's are not. Most of the Pakistani F-16's would be used for protecting their own assets. Even if they did attack, they wouldnt attack the taj mahal. Th covering up of the Taj Mahal seems to be a part of the Indian strategy.

Question for anybody, Who is the strongest militarily, India or Pakistan?