NEW DELHI, India — In a calming down of the war rhetoric between the South Asian rivals, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said Tuesday that his country was open to dialogue with Pakistan if it would shed its "anti-India mentality."
Despite the buildup of tensions during the past weeks, India and Pakistan upheld their New Year's tradition of exchanging lists of their civilian nuclear facilities, traded every year to prevent attack on the installations. And India eased a new ban on overflights to allow two Pakistani planes to enter its airspace.
Meanwhile, Pakistan said a gathering of South Asian leaders this week in Nepal could bring some easing of tensions, even though India has refused to have any direct talks on the crisis at the summit.
Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will both attend the Friday-Sunday meeting of seven regional leaders, and the two countries' foreign ministers will be at a preliminary gathering today and Thursday. A Vajpayee spokesman, Ashok Tandon, said "no meeting is planned with Pakistan at any level."
Blair to visit
But a Pakistani government spokesman, Ashfaq Ahmad Gondal, said a meeting of foreign ministers "cannot be ruled out." And he suggested Vajpayee and Musharraf would have no choice but to interact at the resort lodge where the gathering is taking place. "There is no scheduled meeting, but what else is the retreat?" he said. "When niceties are exchanged, it will be the beginning of something more positive."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair will visit Pakistan on Monday in an effort to defuse tensions, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said Tuesday. A spokesman for Blair's office said he couldn't confirm the visit.
There was a heavy exchange of gunfire overnight between troops on both sides of the Line of Control which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Thousands of civilians have fled their homes on both sides of the line.
The Indian-controlled part of Kashmir saw a number of attacks by Islamic militants. Gunmen attacked army vehicles Tuesday night 45 miles north of Srinigar, killing two soldiers and wounding five, officials said. The night before, six Hindu civilians were shot and killed in a midnight attack on a remote village, police said, and six policemen and three other civilians were killed in several other attacks in the area. Two soldiers were also killed in India's border Punjab state in an attack by suspected militants.
India takes milder tone
India has rejected several Pakistani offers for talks over the past week or so, saying no dialogue was possible until Pakistan stopped supporting secessionist terrorists in Kashmir.
Vajpayee took a milder tone in his annual New Year's address, though he still called on Pakistan to halt "cross-border terrorism" a reference to the anti-India Islamic militant groups that New Delhi says Pakistan supports in a "proxy war" against it.
After Pakistan arrested a key militant leader accused by India of masterminding a Dec. 13 attack on India's Parliament, Vajpayee said he welcomed moves by Pakistan to fight terrorism, but he warned Indians to be prepared for further terrorist strikes. "India does not want war," he said, addressing Indians. "I would like you to be prepared for any eventuality."
After the Parliament attack, the two countries have massed their largest buildup of troops along their border since their 1971 war. Pakistan denies India's claims that it sponsored the attack, which left nine Indians and the five attackers dead.
India also says that Pakistan backs Islamic militants battling Indian rule in Kashmir the divided Himalayan territory that has been the cause of two of the countries' three wars since 1947. Islamabad says its support for the groups is only political.
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