Blair on Indian border peace mission
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Your support makes all the difference.Tony Blair is preparing to fly to India and Pakistan in an attempt to help defuse the tense military stand-off between the neighbouring nuclear powers.
With thousands of troops massed on the border, the Prime Minister will fly to the region within the next week to urge restraint on both sides. His high-security visit was planned before the latest crisis erupted last month, but the threat of war between the two states is bound to dominate his trip.
Mr Blair will meet General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, and Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Indian prime minister. The Prime Minister will not travel with a blueprint for resolving the conflict over the bitterly disputed Kashmir region, but will urge the two governments to return to peace talks abandoned last July.
Mr Blair will also call on Pakistan to step up its crackdown on the Islamic militant groups blamed for an attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi last month, which left 14 people dead.
Downing Street was last night refusing to confirm details of the Prime Minister's itinerary, which – much to British officials' irritation – had already been made public by the Pakistani government.
President George Bush and Mr Blair discussed the crisis earlier this week, amid worries that it could harm the war on terrorism. They fear that the conflict could affect the hunt for Osama bin Laden, particularly as Pakistan has begun redeploying troops from its border with Afghanistan to its Indian frontier.
Downing Street has praised Pakistan for acting "very swiftly" against terrorist groups operating within its territory, with the arrest so far of a leading Islamic militant and 22 other suspected terrorists.
Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, has urged Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Abdul Sattar, to continue the clampdown on suspected terrorists and to resume talks with India.
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