The war-war phase between India and Pakistan seems to have blown over with Pakistan’s chief of army staff talking of the need to “de-escalate and avoid conflict.”
The war-war phase between India and Pakistan seems to have blown over with Pakistan’s chief of army staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, under Chinese and Iranian prompting, talking of the need to “de-escalate and avoid conflict” with India.
The director-generals of military operations of India and Pakistan spoke to each other on the hotline on Monday to discuss the situation along the line of control, and a Pakistani official later confirmed that “the time of war has gone.”
Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani voiced his opposition to war and vowed not to allow his country’s soil to be used for terrorism. “We have never wanted war with anybody... We also want our soil should not be used for terrorism,” Gilani said.
But war clouds began drifting westwards following Israel’s decision to finish off the Hamas war machine in the Gaza strip. Israeli aircraft pounded Gaza for the third consecutive day on Monday, raising the toll to well above 300. There is now talk of a land invasion by Israel, and the country’s defence minister talked of fighting a “war to the bitter end.”
“We have decided to change the rules of the game,” Israeli internal security minister
Avi Dichter said. “We will continue until there is a stop to every kind of fire from the Gaza strip.” The Israeli attacks were launched in response to almost daily rocket and mortar fire against southern Israel by Hamas, which ended a six-month ceasefire a week ago.
The UN Security Council called for a halt to the violence, but US president George W. Bush’s administration, in its final weeks in office, has put the onus on Hamas to renew the truce. As crowds in Iran and other Muslim countries vented anger against Israel and America, Turkey broke off mediatory efforts between Israel and Syria.
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