- NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India
said on Friday it was recalling its High Commissioner to Pakistan, accusing
Islamabad of backing cross-border terrorism, and adding to the strain on
relations between the nuclear rivals.
-
- Announcing the toughest official response so far to last
week's attack on the parliament in New Delhi, foreign ministry spokeswoman
Nirupama Rao told reporters India would also stop all bus and train
services
between the two countries from January 1.
-
- New Delhi had demanded Islamabad shut two Pakistan-based
guerrilla groups and arrest their leaders for involvement in last week's
attack on the Indian parliament in which 14 people died, including the
five assailants who India says were Pakistani.
-
- "Since the December 13 attack on parliament, we
have seen no attempt on the part of Pakistan to take action against the
organizations involved," Rao said.
-
- She said Indian Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer had
summoned
Pakistan's envoy in New Delhi and listed India's demands a day after five
armed intruders stormed the parliament complex before being killed in a
gunbattle.
-
- "In view of the complete lack of concern on the
part of Pakistan and its continued promotion of cross border terrorism,
the government of India has decided to recall its High Commissioner
(ambassador)
in Islamabad," she said.
-
- TENSIONS MOUNTING
-
- Pakistan has condemned the attack, denied any involvement
and has called for a joint investigation. But New Delhi rejected a joint
inquiry, saying its evidence was conclusive.
-
- Rao said the limited train and bus services between the
two countries, used by thousands of Indians and Pakistanis who cannot
afford
to fly, would not be stopped immediately to give people time to return
home.
-
- Tensions between the neighbors, who have fought three
wars in just over half a century of independence, have mounted since the
December 13 attack on the seat of the world's largest democracy.
-
- Blaming the raid on two Pakistan-based groups fighting
Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, India also accuses
Pakistan of backing a plan by the militants to assassinate the country's
entire political leadership.
-
- The two groups are among a dozen fighting for
independence
for Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, or for its merger into
Pakistan.
-
- The two groups have also denied involvement in the attack
and instead accused Indian intelligence agencies of masterminding the
incident
to discredit them.
-
- Both countries have also deployed extra troops on their
border and exchanged mortar and heavy machinegun fire across a cease-fire
line dividing Kashmir.
-
- But the governments of both India and Pakistan have said
they see no danger of war.
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