AFF/NUCLEAR: INDIA AND PAKISTAN ARE A FLASHPOINT FOR NUCLEAR WAR

KASHMIR CRISES RISK NUCLEAR WAR

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel January 28, 2001 SECTION: CROSSROADS; Pg. 02J HEADLINE: Other world hot spots could vex Bush //VT2002acsln

Bush can expect a roller-coaster ride through the beautiful Himalayan region of Kashmir, which sits to the north of both India and Pakistan, resting like one jeweled crown on two inseparable heads.

For a half-century, both nations have claimed this land as their own, and they have fought each other repeatedly to prove their seriousness. Nuclear weapons are now part of the picture, prompting Clinton to call the region "the most dangerous place in the world."

Right now, India and Pakistan seem in a rare conciliatory mood, moving slowly toward informal talks about when they might have a more formal conversation. But the mutual distrust is so overwhelming that the roller coaster can jump the tracks at any turn. Indeed, when they last talked, Pakistan was simultaneously planning a major incursion into the mountains above a vital Indian supply route.

PAKISTAN AND INDIA REMAIN THE #1 NUCLEAR FLASHPOINT

Joseph Cirincione, director of the Non-Proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, March 1, 2000, The Christian Science Monitor SECTION: OPINION; Pg. 9 HEADLINE: Asian nuclear chain reaction // acs-ln

South Asia is the region most likely to see the combat use of nuclear weapons. India and Pakistan - two nuclear-armed nations sharing a common border and a history of aggression - are developing new missiles and crafting nuclear-deployment doctrines. The disputed Kashmir region, the cause of two past wars between these nations, remains a frightening flash point.

PAKISTAN'S WILLINGNESS TO USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS FIRST IS THE BIGGEST RISK OF NUCLEAR WAR IN SOUTH ASIA

Agence France Presse, June 16, 1999 HEADLINE: Pakistan's threat of first nuclear use endangers South Asia: SIPRI // Inu-acs

India's policy has been not to use nuclear weapons first in a conflict and to maintain a nuclear arsenal to deter others from acting first, but Pakistan could easily take a different tack, SIPRI said. "The greatest risk of nuclear war in South Asia arises from Pakistan's long-standing strategy of using the threat of early first use of nuclear weapons to deter conventional war," the report said.

PAKISTAN HAS DANGEROUSLY ANNOUNCED IT WILL USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS FIRST IN A CONFLICT IF IT NEEDS TO

Agence France Presse, June 16, 1999 HEADLINE: Pakistan's threat of first nuclear use endangers South Asia: SIPRI // Inu-acs

Pakistan's standing threat to use nuclear weapons first in a conflict endangers South Asia, the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI) said Wednesday. But the risk of nuclear proliferation by Pakistan and India, currently engaged in an artillery duel in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, is increasingly significant, the independent Swedish institute said in its annual report.

INDIA AND PAKISTAN ARE WILLING TO TAKE RISKS OVER KASHMIR

THE HINDU February 9, 2001 HEADLINE: Chance of another Indo-Pak. war: CIA //VT2002acsln

Mr. Tenet, an appointee of the Clinton administration who has been asked to stay on by the President, Mr. Bush, otherwise made a routine assessment of the South Asian situation reiterating that both India and Pakistan were willing to take risks over Kashmir even while taking note of the positive developments in the recent past. "India has been trying to engage select militants and separatists, but militant groups have kept up their attacks through India's most recent ceasefire", Mr. Tenet observed.

INDIA-PAKISTAN NUCLEAR POSITION MAY TRIGGER NUCLEAR WAR

David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.  11.28.2000 A World Without Nuclear Weapons

India and Pakistan both tested nuclear weapons in 1998.  Both have said that they would disarm their nuclear arsenals, but not unless the other nuclear weapons states do so.  They want equality.  For them, it is a dangerous way to seek equality.  They have had repeated violent conflicts over Kashmir and now these conflicts have the potential to result in nuclear war.