India cautious over Kashmir attack

The victims were poor labourers and their families

The Indian Government has refrained from blaming Pakistan in its first official reaction to the latest bloodshed in Kashmir.

But Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani told MPs that Pakistan must do more to crack down on militants operating within its territory.

We expect the government... to explain how it plans to control terrorism

Shivraj Patil,
Congress MP

Twenty-eight Hindu civilians were killed in an attack on Saturday thought to have been carried out by pro-Pakistan Muslim militants.

And 14 people were injured in a grenade attack in Kashmir on Tuesday - four security personnel and 10 civilians.

Police said they suspected militants of carrying out the attack.

Given credit

At the end of a heated debate in parliament on Tuesday, Mr Advani said the international community must pressurise Islamabad into dismantling militant training camps inside Pakistan.

But he also gave Pakistan's leadership some credit - saying it had changed its stance since last year.

"Now Pakistan identifies attacks on civiilians as acts of terrorism rather than as part of a freedom struggle," Mr Advani said.

The opposition had earlier criticised the government for failing to stop the violence.

"We expect the government of India to explain how it plans to control terrorism," Congress Party MP Shivraj Patil said during a stormy debate.

In Kashmir itself, four security personnel and 10 civilians were wounded in a grenade explosion in Anantnag, 55 km south of Srinagar.

Police say suspected militants hurled a grenade at security personnel while they were out shopping.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Cautious response

The killings on Saturday night took place in a slum area of Jammu, the disputed territory's winter capital.

Correspondents say the latest massacre has thrown the fragile peace process between India and Pakistan into confusion.

	Kashmir militant attacks: 1 October 2001: 38 killed in attack on the Kashmir assembly in Srinagar 13 December 2001: 14 killed in attack on the Indian parliament building in Delhi 14 May 2002: More than 30 killed in attack on an Indian army camp in Kashmir 21 May 2002: Moderate Kashmiri politician Abdul Ghani Lone shot dead South Asia's high nuclear stakes

But analysts say India is unlikely to take drastic action before the visits to Delhi by UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw later this week and US Secretary of State Colin Powell next week.

Their visits will be the latest in a series of high-profile efforts by senior Western officials to reduce the risk of a war between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

On Tuesday, the Pakistani military began 10 days of war games, the largest in the country's history, which it said was in response to India's massing of troops on the line of control dividing Kashmir.

The war games were announced before news came of Saturday's attack in Indian administered Kashmir.

The dispute over Kashmir is at the heart of five decades of hostility between India and Pakistan, which have fought two wars over the territory.

More than a million Indian and Pakistani soldiers are currently massed along the frontier.

Militant groups are fighting to end Indian rule in Kashmir, and Delhi says they are actively supported by Pakistan.