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Nuclear neighbours teeter on brink of Armageddon
(Jason Burke and Peter Beaumont, The Observer, June 2, 2002)
Tonight, in the forests of Kashmir, figures will be moving in the darkness. They are fighters using terrorism to overthrow Indian rule in the disputed state. . . . New Delhi says these militants take their orders directly from Islamabad. The Pakistanis say they are independent. Neither claim, according to inquiries by The Observer, is accurate. And it is through the gap between these stories that 1.25 billion people could fall into a nuclear nightmare. . . . In the past seven days the sense of impending catastrophe has deepened exponentially in London and Washington, driven by Pentagon alarm over 'unusual Indian troop movements' which US Defence Intelligence Agency analysts believe signal that Indian forces are all now in position for an imminent assault. . . . any Indian attack over the line separating Indian and Pakistani forces in Kashmir could rapidly escalate into a nuclear exchange. . . . 'In a worst-case scenario,' said a senior Foreign Office source, 'we would be looking at contamination affecting Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh even China.' . . . And there are militant groups that even Musharraf cannot control. The aggressive Jaish-e-Mohammed (the Army of Mohammed) is unlikely to obey his orders to cease fire. Other, 'home-grown' Kashmiri militants have stockpiles of weapons and funds independent of Pakistani support. . . . One man with a Kalashnikov and some dynamite could set off a blast that will make the entire world tremble.

posted by LoZo 12:14 PM