West turns up heat on India

President George Bush phoned Musharraf to congratulate him for the speech - considered "courageous" even by some Indian commentators. The Pakistani leader faces great pressure by Islamic forces in his ethnically fractured country, including Islamists in the powerful Pakistani secret service.

Yesterday, the head of a Pakistani coalition of 35 Islamic militant groups responded to Musharraf's moves with a call for violent protests on Jan. 27. "Every patriotic Muslim should participate ... to condemn the government's anti-Islamic policies," Maulana Samiul Haq told The Associated Press.

The worry in Delhi is that India cannot match the kind of radical concessions offered by Musharraf, particularly on Kashmir.

"There are not a lot of options for us," says Rahul Bedi, an analyst for Jane's Defense Weekly. "I think the government is worried that diplomatic pressure is going to mount on India, and if we don't find some concessions, India can be projected as the warmonger."

On Kashmir, Musharraf argues that Pakistan will offer "moral and political" support to the Muslim-majority valley. "Kashmir runs in our blood," he said of the Himalayan region that has caused three wars between India and Pakistan, the most recent in 1999.

The Indian border mobilization began after the Parliament building here was attacked on Dec. 13 by five gunmen with alleged ties to groups in Kashmir or Pakistan. Pakistan denied any role. India officials compared the attack to the Sept. 11 New York bombing, and have resolutely argued, sometimes using the language of US officials on Afghanistan, that states harboring terrorists are legitimate targets. India views the presence in Pakistan of Islamic extremists who cross the border into the disputed territory of Kashmir as such terrorists.

Repeating this theme, India's defense minister yesterday spoke of the attack on the Indian Parliament: "Dec. 13 is a day that will remain etched in the minds of our people for all time.... There is no way India can accept such actions any more. "

Add to India's indignation in recent months, a general "peeved feeling" as a senior official put it, that after having spent several years cultivating the United States - slowly working to have the US cease treating India and Pakistan as equals in the region - suddenly, after Sept. 11, the US has reestablished a hearty relationship with Musharraf and the Pakistani military. Some Indians express dismay that Secretary Powell and Musharraf may have "hit it off," as a Indian analyst put it, because they are both military men and can share past experiences and viewpoints.

Unclear is whether Indian officials have any articulated "end game" to a war they might start by crossing into Pakistan - a war that Musharraf has said Pakistan would fight "to the last drop of blood." Indian officials have refused to comment publicly on whether they feel a "limited war" with Pakistan is possible.

Moreover, the heavier the Indian military buildup - even if designed as a public relations pressure tactic - the more difficult it will be for India to suddenly start a dialogue.

"There's an issue of pride, and, hard as it may be for some people to understand, they really seem to hate each other," a Western diplomat argues.

Whether Musharraf can control all of the radical elements in Pakistan is also unclear. One scenario in Delhi is that rogue elements from the Pakistani secret service, who do not want Musharraf in power, will create a series of incidents that will bring the two sides to blows.

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