Row over Kashmir attack deepens

Mounting tension directly affects the lives of many

Diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan have worsened again after Delhi expelled the Pakistani High Commissioner, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, on Saturday.

The move follows Indian accusations that Pakistan has been backing separatist militants who carried out a deadly attack on an army camp in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday - an allegation Pakistan denies.

Anybody can become a target

Islamabad expressed "disappointment" at the decision, which was announced after India's highest national security committee met to consider responses to the attack in which more than 30 soldiers and civilians where killed.

"Actions like these add to tension, whereas efforts should be in reduction of tension," Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told state-run Pakistan Television after the expulsion was announced.

The expulsion of the Pakistani envoy came at a time of growing tension between the two neighbours, with their troops exchanging fire and violence in Kashmir taking more lives.

Mounting toll

Police in Srinagar, summer capital of Indian- administered Kashmir, said 17 people including 12 rebels, were killed overnight and on Saturday in a number of clashes with troops.

Brinkmanship carries serious risks

Across the Line of Control (LOC) dividing Kashmir between the two neighbours, the Pakistani army said "indiscriminate and unprovoked" Indian shelling had caused the death of two people.

The Pakistani statement said 15 others, including two women and two children, were wounded by Indian fire.

It said Indian soldiers had used artillery, mortars and "direct firing weapons" to target areas in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and Pakistani forces had responded "swiftly".

Exchanges of fire across the LOC are not rare but, given the current tensions, they are thought to carry the potential for escalating into wider conflicts.

The two countries have deployed hundreds of thousands of troops along their shared borders since a militant attack on the Indian parliament in December.

Grim potential

India withdrew its high commissioner from Pakistan at the time and demanded the extradition of 20 "terrorists", and ending "cross- border terrorism".

Ashraf Jehangir Qazi is leaving Delhi

Despite a crackdown on Muslim militants by the Musharraf government in Pakistan, India has maintained its military and diplomatic pressure.

With the Indian military, political parties and the media urging action against Pakistan, pressures on Delhi too have mounted in recent days.

The US, the country with the most influence in the region, has sent several emissaries to lower tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals.

But recent events cast doubts on the efficacy of diplomatic pressure brought to bear by foreign friends.