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June 16, 1999
Web posted at: 3:21 p.m. EDT (1921 GMT)

In this story: Pakistan denies infiltration Guerrillas losing ground, India says Pakistan calls allegations of torture absurd RELATED STORIES, SITES

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- An alliance of guerrillas fighting Indian rule in Kashmir on Wednesday spurned a U.S. request that they leave the northern mountains to end a standoff between India and Pakistan.

"We will not budge an inch from the territory we have captured in Kargil (area) under any external pressure," Muthidda Jihad Council alliance chief Syed Salahuddin told Reuters.

"Kashmiri militants will continue their struggle until the last Indian soldier leaves Kashmir," he said.

U.S. President Bill Clinton spoke by phone Tuesday with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Clinton urged Sharif to get the guerrillas to pull back to a line that separates Kashmir between the unfriendly neighbors.

Clinton also asked Sharif to continue talks with his Indian counterpart. A day earlier, Clinton called Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and made a similar request.

Pakistan denies infiltration

Pakistan denies its soldiers are in Indian-held Kashmir.

"The Americans are unaware of the ground situation. We are within our side of the border," said Brig. Rashid Quereshi, an army spokesman.

The militants also denied getting help from Pakistani soldiers, said they are not under Pakistan's control and are only fighting to hold land they say belongs to them.

"There is no Pakistani soldier in the area. Kashmiris themselves are fighting a war of liberation on their own soil," said Salahuddin, whose alliance consists of 14 militant groups fighting Indian rule over two-thirds of Kashmir.

Pakistan controls the remaining third of the disputed state. The two countries have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since their independence from Britain in 1947. A third war was fought over Bangladesh, then called East Pakistan.

"The United States should have asked India to vacate the Kashmir that it has illegally occupied. We are sons of the soil and fighting for the liberation of our soil," Salahuddin said.

"Our struggle is for liberation and right of self- determination, a right given to oppressed nations by the U.N. Charter. President Clinton must distinguish between the oppressed and the oppressor."

Guerrillas losing ground, India says

An Indian military spokesman said Wednesday that the guerrillas are falling back from the snowy mountains in Kashmir.

"The are facing privation for want of ammunition, medical cover and rations," said Col. Bikram Singh, a military spokesman.

India said on Wednesday that its troops were closing in on the militants and were continuing efforts to choke off their supply lines.

Pakistan calls allegations of torture absurd

India said on Wednesday it had protested Pakistan's "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions by torturing and killing an Indian pilot and six Indian soldiers captured during the fighting in Kashmir.

Pakistan denies torturing or killing any of the seven Indians and describes the accusations as absurd.

Tensions between the newly nuclear-capable neighbors heightened after India launched an intense ground and air offensive last month against what it calls "Pakistan-backed infiltrators" in mountains in the Kargil area, near the Chinese border.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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