June 12, 1999
Web posted at: 3:17 p.m. EDT (1917 GMT)

In this story: Differences over border, soldier deaths Border skirmishes continue RELATED STORIES, SITES

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan reported no progress after talks Saturday on the fighting in the disputed region of Kashmir and the deaths of six Indian soldiers.

India's Jaswant Singh and Pakistan's Sartaj Aziz met for 70 minutes, trying to ease escalating tensions between the two nuclear-capable countries. India and Pakistan have gone to war three times in the past 50 years, twice over Kashmir.

The Kashmir problem cannot be solved in a day, Aziz told reporters before leaving for Islamabad after his one-day visit. The two sides disagreed on how the fighting started and the nature of the battle, but he said "the chances of escalation are not strong."

Aziz said he was optimistic there would be more talks, but no dates were announced.

Indian demonstrators burned effigies of Aziz and Pakistan's prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, as the talks proceeded. Hundreds of riot police stopped protesters from heading to the Pakistani Embassy, but no arrests were made.

Each country accuses the other of trying to alter the boundary between the two-thirds of Kashmir controlled by India and the one-third controlled by Pakistan.

India has spent a month battling Muslim guerrillas on the icy slopes of Kashmir, and accuses Pakistan of supporting the rebels. Pakistan denies the accusation.

Saturday's meeting was the first diplomatic contact between the two countries since fighting began. Differences between the two sides were aired anew as the two ministers recapped their talks in separate news conferences.

Singh told reporters he demanded that Pakistan pull guerrillas and soldiers out of Kashmir, and said India awaited Pakistan's response to that demand. He vowed that India's military operation against the guerrillas would continue.

Aziz repeated Pakistan's denials that Pakistani troops had entered Indian territory.

"We have never crossed the Line of Control," Aziz said, referring to the 1972 cease-fire line. "It is India that has tried several times to capture our posts." He said that while the line is clear on maps, it is sometimes unclear on the ground where the cease-fire line lies.

Singh said Pakistan could not cast doubt on a military Line of Control that divides Kashmir between them.

"Questioning it now is an ingenious attempt to find ex post justification for the intrusion. This is unacceptable," Singh said.

Aziz said he had made "specific suggestions" to India on easing tensions in the Himalayan territory. "Further progress will depend on India accepting these proposals," he said.

Aziz did not elaborate, but Singh offered more insight.

"He (Aziz) suggested partial de-escalation could be brought about if India ended air strikes on its side of the Line of Control and artillery firing could be stopped. My reaction was clear -- remove the factor that has caused the escalation. That is the most effective de-escalation."

Singh also told Aziz that India is outraged that six of its soldiers, whose bodies were handed over by Pakistani authorities, had been tortured and killed and their bodies mutilated.

Aziz repeated Pakistan's denial of responsibility in the soldiers' deaths.

India claims the soldiers were captured while on patrol in Kashmir. Pakistan claims they were killed by guerrillas and that its soldiers simply recovered their bodies from a mountain ravine.

In Kashmir, the Indian army continued shelling mountain positions occupied by what India says are Pakistani soldiers supported by guerrilla volunteers. Indian officers in the state capital, Srinagar, said troops were engaged in close-quarters combat to recapture mountains in the Batalik region.

Police officials in Kashmir said Indian forces had driven 150 infiltrators back into Pakistan three days after they had crossed the border. Police said India and Pakistan had exchanged artillery fire in the Macchal sector, north of Srinagar, as the guerrillas were pushed back.

Meanwhile Indian jet fighters resumed strafing infiltrators' mountaintop nests Saturday after bad weather curtailed Friday's sorties.

India began "Operation Vijay" last month to drive out the infiltrators. India claims the rebel force is composed mostly of Pakistan Army regulars, and heavy fighting was reported on Friday in Kargil, Batalik and other sectors.

India says the raiders crossed the unmarked cease-fire line from Pakistan early last month near Kargil, and they remain in about 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

On Friday, India produced what it said were telephone transcripts of calls between two top Pakistani generals. India said the documents showed that Pakistan's army was involved in the fighting in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Pakistan's army spokesman, Brig. Rashid Quereshi, dismissed the transcript as Indian propaganda.

CNN New Delhi Bureau Chief Satinder Bindra,The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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