India, Pakistan must refrain from raising stakes for war

Given the long-standing enmity between nuclear powers India and Pakistan -- they have gone to war three times with conventional weapons -- Tuesday's terrorist attack in Bombay that killed 200 people and wounded more than 700 could easily evolve into a major confrontation if cooler heads do not prevail in the two countries.
It is encouraging that Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, quickly condemned the bombings that occurred along the railway line in the financial capital of India, and that Indian officials have thus far refrained from rattling their sabers at their neighbor to the north.
But the history of the relationship between Hindu dominated India and Muslim dominated Pakistan suggests that an incautious word could easily trigger a crisis of global proportions. It was just five years ago that accusations of Pakistani involvement in a 2001 attack on India's parliament put the two countries on the brink of a fourth war -- with nuclear weapons.
Fortunately, the crisis was defused, and since then, India and Pakistan have embarked on a peace process aimed at resolving their differences, including the claims to all of the disputed territory of Kashmir, which separates them.
But the eight blasts Tuesday in Bombay, also known as Mumbai, on the crowded trains during the evening rush hour focused attention on Kashmiri militants who have repeatedly carried out nearly simultaneous explosions in attacks on Indian cities, including bombings last year at three markets in New Delhi.
Bin Laden's encouragement
The militants have ties to al-Qaida, the terrorist organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America's mainland. Al-Qaida's leader, Osama bin Laden, who has eluded capture by the United States and its allies by hiding in the mountainous region of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, has called on the militants to continue their deadly campaign against India until Kashmir becomes an Islamic territory.
The Indian government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has alleged that Pakistan supports the Muslim militants.
According to the Associated Press, analysts warn that a Kashmiri link to the blasts could slow, or perhaps derail, a peace process that has gained momentum between the nuclear rivals over the past several years.
Singh blamed "terrorists" for the attacks, which he called "shocking and cowardly attempts to spread a feeling of fear and terror among our citizens."
Pakistan's foreign ministry, quoting President Musharraf, said, "Terrorism is a bane of our times and it must be condemned, rejected and countered effectively and comprehensively."
Given the reality of the situation -- the Hindu-Muslim hatred runs deep and has been responsible for hundreds of killings on both sides -- the United States and other countries should move quickly to ensure that India and Pakistan do not let the bombings become a flash point for another nuclear crisis. They should work with the intelligence agencies of the two countries to not only arrest the bombers, but to go after the terrorist cells that have been operating in Kashmir.
As President Bush has said, the war on global terrorism must be fought on many fronts. Having two nuclear rivals with the their fingers on the button is what bin Laden and al-Qaida want, which is why the region is one of the most important fronts in the terror war.