- Pakistan's military warned that tensions with nuclear
rival India were as high as ever following the alleged torture and shooting
of one of its unarmed soldiers.
-
- Military spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi said
recent progress in de-escalating tensions between the two nuclear rivals
had been eroded because of the death and said India risked being blamed
for a "state-sponsored" killing if it did not punish those involved.
-
- "Whatever cosmetic actions the Indians have taken
have not reduced tensions at all," Qureshi told AFP, referring to
recent diplomatic and military manouevres by India aimed at easing the
crisis.
-
- "This just goes to show tensions are exactly what
they were a month back or a few months back.
-
- "There is no decrease in tension at all."
-
- Qureshi said he had heard no official response from India
after calling for an inquiry into the death of Lance Corporal Naik Maqsood,
who he said was tied up, interrogated "by third degree methods"
and shot after being dragged from the no man's land between the two countries.
-
- "They need to take action, otherwise it will be
state-sponsored," Qureshi said.
-
- "If the government is not involved the government
needs to take action against the perpetrators of this.
-
- "It's something we will not forget. It's something
that needs to be investigated and if they say they are fair and open they
need to investigate it and get to the bottom of it."
-
- India has denied any torture and said Maqsood was shot
while trying to cross into India. Pakistan said the ranger was captured
by a group of Indian soldiers after rounding up a pair of runaway camels.
-
- Qureshi said the incident had created dangerous "bitterness"
among Pakistani ranks, which could prove extremely dangerous with a million
troops from both sides massed on their international border and the Kashmir
Line of Control.
-
- The world had heaved a collective sigh of relief in recent
weeks after top-level international diplomatic pressure appeared to have
brought about a climb-down.
-
- India withdrew its navy from waters off Pakistan, reopened
its airspace to Pakistani flights, announced it is appointing a new ambassador
and granted leave to soldiers stationed on the borders.
-
- Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, reflecting
after the worst of the crisis appeared to be over, told an American news
magazine it had been "touch and go" whether the two countries
would go to war.
-
- "I did not rule out the possibility of war. Until
the last minute we were hoping that wiser counsels would prevail,"
Vajpayee told Newsweek in an interview released on Saturday.
-
- But Pakistan has repeatedly warned just a small spark
could ignite a large-scale conflict.
-
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