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Your support makes all the difference.Pakistan warned India yesterday not to launch attacks across its border on suspected terrorist camps as tension mounted between the two countries over the devastating assault on India's parliament. The Indian Prime Minister, meanwhile, said Delhi had "reached the limits" of its tolerance.
India is demanding action by Pakistan against Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Islamic militant group accused of responsibility by New Delhi for Thursday's attack, which left 12 dead and could have resulted in a massacre among hundreds of MPs in the building. Speculation was growing that the five terrorists, who all died, might have planned to take MPs hostage after they were found to be carrying dried food, ropes and mobile phones.
The dangerous deterioration in relations between India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, brought nearer the prospect of air strikes on Lashkar-e-Taiba bases in the disputed territory of Kashmir. At the same time Pakistan is reinforcing its border with Afghanistan to head off al-Qa'ida fighters making a last stand at Tora Bora, only a few miles from the frontier. President Pervez Musharraf, facing a crisis on both flanks, warned India against "adventurism" as pressure mounted in New Delhi for India to exercise its right to fight terrorism.
Speaking in Calcutta, the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, retorted "We cannot tolerate such attacks any more. We have reached the limits of our tolerance." He urged the international community to put pressure on Pakistan, and hinted that previous reluctance to make attacks across the Line of Control in Kashmir might be a thing of the past.
While condemning the attack on the Indian parliament, General Musharraf said: "I'd like to warn against any precipitous action by the Indian government against Pakistan. This would lead to very serious repercussions. It must not be done." But he also hinted at a possible way out "We want to make sure this is a terrorist attack and if anyone is involved in Pakistan."
India accuses Pakistan of backing Lashkar-e-Taiba in a proxy war in the troubled Kashmir region, although Islamabad says it gives only moral support to the group. The Indians have given Pakistan an ultimatum to shut down Lashkar and another Kashmiri separatist group linked to al-Qa'ida, Jaish-e-Mohammad, demanding that their assets be frozen and their leaders arrested.
The Islamabad government has indicated willingness to look at the evidence for Indian claims that Lashkar carried out the attack on parliament, although a crackdown on a group regarded by most Pakistanis as heroes and freedom fighters would be politically difficult.
A Western diplomat said military strikes across the Line of Control in Kashmir were not thought likely, despite intense pressure within India to give the military free reign. "Whether India will be able to resist pressure to strike if there is another major terrorist attack is another matter," he said.
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