China joins push for Kashmir talks

Indian and Pakistani border guards conduct the daily "Beating the Retreat" ceremony at the Wagha border post

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (CNN) -- China is the latest country to join international diplomatic efforts aimed at easing tensions between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan over the disputed Kashmir region.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said President Jiang Zemin will meet separately with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during a regional security summit in Almaty that begins Monday.

Announcing the meetings, a spokesman in Beijing said China would call on the two countries to exercise "the utmost restraint and resolve their disputes through negotiation and dialogue."

Russian President Vladimir Putin also is planning to use the Kazakhstan meeting to hold talks with the two leaders and put pressure on them to step back from the brink of war.

With Musharraf and Vajpayee in the same city, the two are under intense international pressure to use the summit as an opportunity to hold face-to-face talks and defuse tensions.

So far, India has refused to get involved in any dialogue, saying it wants to see concrete evidence that Pakistan has halted militant incursions into Kashmir before talks can begin. (Full story)

AUDIO CNN's Matthew Chance reports from Almaty that hopes are diminishing of a meeting between Indian and Pakistani leaders 2.4 MB / 3 mins 47 secs WAV sound   CNN NewsPass VIDEO CNN's Tom Mintier reports a meeting between India and Pakistan at a regional security summit appears unlikely Play video CNN's Satinder Bindra takes a look at India's allegation that hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are gathering on the Pakistani side of Kashmir. Play video CNN talks to Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, about the threat of war with India. (Part 1) Play video Musharraf interview. (Part 2) Play video CNN's Suhasini Haidar examines the historical background of Kashmir and why the region is in such turmoil today. Play video   GALLERY India and Pakistan: Tensions rise  Photo diary: Tense two weeks    RESOURCES • Missile range  Infographic: Maps and military    TULLY ON SOUTH ASIA South Asia: The threat of war  • Tully's India archive >>    IN-DEPTH India and Pakistan: South Asia power play

Musharraf repeatedly has said he is willing to hold talks "anywhere, at any time and at any level" -- a position he reiterated Sunday in talks with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and upon his arrival in Almaty.

The window of opportunity at the meeting is small -- the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia is due to end Wednesday.

Between them, India and Pakistan have amassed nearly a million troops along their shared border and the U.N.-drawn Line of Control in Kashmir amid accusations and counter-accusations over which country is to blame for escalating tensions.

Speaking to CNN last week, Musharraf appeared to rule out use of nuclear weapons in a conflict over Kashmir, saying such a move was "unthinkable." (Transcript of Musharraf interview).

Indian officials also have reiterated their country's long-standing no first-use policy on its nuclear stockpile.

Nonetheless with tensions high, diplomats -- led by Russia's Putin -- would like the two sides to make use of the Kazakhstan meeting to back away from a potentially devastating war.

There is some historical precedent to Moscow's involvement in the Kashmir dispute.

In 1966, the Soviet Union brokered a meeting in Uzbekistan that played a crucial role in helping re-establish relations between the two countries following their 1965 war over Kashmir. (History and map)

Then as now, the underlying issues pertain to committing to resolve bilateral differences through peaceful means, staying out of each other's affairs and strengthening trade between the two nations.

Armitage: Situation 'extraordinarily volatile'

Even after the summit closes, the diplomatic pressure will remain high. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are scheduled to make visits to the region.

Armitage on Monday called the situation "extraordinarily volatile" and said his goal will be to help reduce tensions in the region.

Armitage said he felt Musharraf was trying to minimize the possibility of a nuclear war.

"I think he is trying to downplay it, and I thank him for that," he said. But he added, once the conflict reaches a certain point, however, "reason and logic seem to go out the window."

"Those who say we shouldn't even think about a nuclear exchange are right in one way, but we have to have it in the back of our minds," he said.

Meanwhile as the international effort intensifies, many countries are advising their citizens to leave the region and withdrawing nonessential diplomatic staff.

The United Nations also has announced it is evacuating families of staff from India and Pakistan.

Tensions between India and Pakistan were sparked by the December attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi that killed 14, including five assailants.

India blamed the attack on Kashmiri militants based in Pakistan, demanding that the Islamabad government take action to stop incursions as it mobilized thousands of troops toward the border and the Line of Control.

The crisis escalated further last month with an attack on an Indian army camp that killed more than 30 people.(Tense two weeks).

In Kashmir, there were fresh reports of violence Monday, with three civilians reported killed in a series of mortar and artillery exchanges across the Line of Control.

Such exchanges are commonplace in Kashmir, but at a time of elevated tensions diplomats fear even a small clash could light the fuse leading to all-out war between the two sides.