International

Putin compares standoff to Cuban missile crisis

By Atul Aneja

ALMATY JUNE 4. Signifying the intense international concern over the Indo-Pak. military tensions, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, compared the situation in South Asia to the Cuban missile crisis that nearly led to a nuclear clash between the former Soviet Union and the United States in 1962.

During his "wrap-up'' remarks at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building in Asia (CICA), Mr. Putin pointed out that the entire world was following the situation in South Asia with great concern. He said the European Union, NATO and the U.S. President, George Bush, were gravely concerned about the situation. This was the first occasion after the "Caribbean crisis'' that such a dangerous situation had developed anywhere in the world, he observed.

Nevertheless, Mr. Putin said he was heartened by the reiteration of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, that India would not be the first to use nuclear weapons and the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf's rejection of terrorism. Mr. Putin said he appealed "to the wisdom of the two leaders to apply political means to resolve their differences.''

References to the standoff came from other quarters as well. The Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, without mentioning India and Pakistan by name expressed the hope that "parties to certain regional conflicts in Asia'' settle their disputes "peacefully and without delay.''

The Kazakhstan President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, said: "We are all concerned about conflict in South Asia. We wish and call upon our neighbours to achieve a peaceful resolution of the problems."

The issue also came up for comment from Iran, Tajikistan and Israel.

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