The Indian army began to keep civilians out of its mountain battle zone on Saturday

June 5, 1999
Web posted at: 2:56 p.m. EDT (1856 GMT)

In this story: United States won't interfere Army bars civilians from fight zone India releases IDs of three dead Pakistanis RELATED STORIES, SITES

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- India on Saturday delayed peace talks with Pakistan that were proposed for early next week and cut off part of Kashmir in preparation for a possible new offensive against Muslim guerrillas there.

Pakistan's offer to send Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz to New Delhi for discussions Monday "is not convenient," a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement Saturday.

"We will revert shortly to the government of Pakistan with alternative dates," said spokesman Raminder Singh Jassal. He said the June 7 date did not suit Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh.

The diplomatic meeting was planned to help defuse an escalating conflict in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. Pakistan has accused India of stalling the talks.

Analysts speculate that any peace gesture by India's leaders will be perceived as a sign of weakness that would put the country's elected officials in a sensitive position just months before the September polls.

The U.S. ambassador to India said Washington would not interfere in the dispute between India and Pakistan.

"Kashmir is an issue which can be only settled by peaceful talks between the two countries, without any intervention. The United States realizes this," said ambassador Richard Celeste.

The United States has consistently urged the two nuclear-capable neighbors to reach a diplomatic solution to the conflict and keep the fighting from spilling over into other regions, Celeste said.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947 -- two of them over Kashmir. India controls two-thirds of the territory, Pakistan the rest, and both claim all of it. A U.N.-drawn cease-fire line separates the two zones, and New Delhi is accusing Pakistan of trying to alter that boundary.

Army bars civilians from fight zone

The Indian army on Saturday began keeping civilians out of its mountain battle zone, suggesting an escalation in fighting against intruders it says are backed by Pakistan.

For the first time, the air force stopped its 10-day-old campaign of airstrikes while ground forces fought with rebels who have occupied the mountainous terrain since last month.

India says the infiltrators are Afghan mercenaries and Pakistani soldiers in civilian clothes. Pakistan denies its soldiers are involved.

Military officers in Srinagar and Jammu said journalists would no longer be able to travel freely on the northern Kargil highway, where the fighting was taking place. The area is 700 kilometers (440 miles) north of New Delhi.

No reason was given, but army sources said a major assault was expected. Thousands of residents of Kargil, Dras and other towns and villages already have fled.

Until now, journalists carrying army-issued passes and a few civilian supply trucks were the only nonmilitary traffic allowed through checkpoints into the area.

Brigadier Arun Chopra, an army spokesman in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state, revised the army's estimate of the number of infiltrators killed to 200 -- about half the previous figure.

At least 56 Indian soldiers or airmen have been killed in the fighting, Chopra said. Fourteen are reported missing.

The Indian army on Saturday released photocopies of identity cards of three dead Pakistani soldiers -- described by officers as concrete evidence that regular Pakistani soldiers are among the intruders.

Chopra said the bodies of the Pakistani soldiers, found Thursday about seven kilometers (four miles) inside Indian territory, would be handed over to the Pakistani military at an army post in Kargil. The army also displayed weapons, a bloodstained woolen glove and winter clothing said to belong to the dead Pakistanis.

The army said it had pushed back the infiltrators up to seven kilometers (four miles) after heavy fighting in the Yaldoh region, and Indian troops were in a strong position in Turtuk and Chorbat La.

The intruders are occupying a ridge line a few thousand meters inside Indian territory.

"The ration lines of the infiltrators have been cut in some areas, but they are still getting supplies in other areas," Chopra said.

The toughest battles are being fought near the northern towns of Dras, Mashkah, Kaksar and Batalik. The guerrillas hold at least eight strategic peaks that dominate the Kargil district in northern Kashmir: India claims to have cleared 10 other peaks of intruders.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.