India warns its citizens

“Don’t go to Pakistan, it’s risky”

2008NEW DELHI – The government of India has urged its citizens not to travel to Pakistan for security reasons, while the tension between the two nuclear powers grows after the Mumbai attacks. The warning was launched by the Foreign Ministry in New Delhi while a meeting was underway between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the leaders of the armed forces.

And meanwhile the two countries are massing troops on the border. Pakistan, reported a source in the armed forces, transferred troops from the border with Afghanistan to the border with India and suspended all military licenses with “operational” tasks.

Pakistani military sources claim, on the contrary, that a shift of Indian troops towards the border was noticed, not far from the city of Lahore.

Paradoxically, the rise in tension comes just as the quietest in the last 20 years closes in Indian Kashmir, confirming the détente started in 2004. Although there are still about a thousand Islamic guerrillas in the region, the number of gun battles in 2008 fell to 700, down 40%.

December 26 2008