Dmitry Litvinovich: Nuclear plays of India and Pakistan. To be continued…

The most noticeable event of 2001 was the September 11 terrorist acts. Now, all the events of the year are divided into two parts: what happened before the terrorist acts and what happened after. Many events are derivative of this date, though not all of them. Some events have their roots already in 20th century. The question is about the India-Pakistan conflict.

The conflict between India and Pakistan has continued for several dozens of years: there were several local wars and tens of thousands of victims, though there is not yet a winner.

A new escalation of the conflict came at the end of the year. Many observers suppose that today’s conflict could end with a large war between the countries.

The world’s community still hopes to reconcile the two nuclear powers. Many countries have already addressed them, though the countries’ leaders are resolute to fight to the very end.

On Thursday, British Prime-Minister Tony Blair starts his visit to India and Pakistan. Blair’s voyage to the Southeast Asia is a continuation of his active diplomatic manoeuvres he started after the September 11 events.

It is expected that during the meetings with Indian Prime-Minister Atal Bihari Vajapai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Tony Blair will ask them to show restraint. However, according to some statements with which Vajpai and Musharraf from time to time exchange, it its too early to speak about progress in the settlement of this conflict.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf excluded any possibility of extraditing terrorists that were accused by Delhi of organizing the terrorist attack on the Pakistani parliament to the Indian authorities, PTI reports. While appearing at a joint sitting of the National Security Council and cabinet of Pakistan, Perves Musharraf also said that if India presents convincing proofs of the terrorists’ guilt, Islamabad would try them according to its laws. “Pakistan wants to live in peace and to further decrease the international tension, though if India really attacks Pakistan, it will soon regret it”, he said.

It should be recalled that the extradition of the terrorists was the main condition of India, so only with such an evolution of events, negotiations between Indian and Pakistan are possible.

Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/01/03/35312.html