ISLAMABAD The Kashmiri militant group Hizb ul-Mujahedin Tuesday terminated its unilateral cease-fire in Indian-administered Kashmir, accusing India of inflexibility in peace talks.
"We direct all the commanders and the Mujahedin in the field to break the cease-fire and go ahead with target-oriented missions," Syed Salahuddin, supreme commander of the group, declared in Islamabad.
"Our options are open and we can review and revise our decision once India breaks the barrier of rigidity," he said, stressing that the peace talks must involve Pakistan.
India has rejected tripartite talks and insists that the talks must be on the basis of the Indian constitution, which describes Kashmir as an integral part of India.
There was no immediate reaction in Delhi to the announcement Tuesday by the Kashmiri militant group that it was terminating its unilateral cease-fire in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Indian officials and the powerful militant Muslim group held their first-ever direct talks on August 3 in Srinagar in an effort to bring peace to the violence-torn state of Kashmir, where nearly 30,000 people have died in a decade of insurgency.
Vajpayee recently travelled to Srinagar to assess the situation firsthand following the killing of more than 100 people by militants in Jammu and Kashmir state.
Hizbul announced a three-month cease-fire in late June, and called for talks including India and Pakistan.
Vajpayee had told newsmen in Srinagar that India's aim in holding unconditional talks with the rebels was based on "insaniyat", or humanity, and not just the parameters within the Indian constitution.
Rejecting the suggestion for third party mediation in Kashmir, he held Pakistan responsible for the latest mayhem.
Vajpayee maintained that there was no possibility of any talks with Pakistani military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, adding that the Pakistani ruler's silence was enough proof of his country's direct involvement in the killings.
Meanwhile, behind President Bill Clinton's blunt warning last spring that South Asia was the world's most perilous region lay an assessment from American intelligence agencies that the likelihood of a war between India and Pakistan that could erupt into a nuclear conflict had increased significantly, according to the New York Times Tuesday.
The paper cited "officials with access to the secret intelligence" as saying that the Central Intelligence Agency and America's other intelligence organizations had reached their consensus after examining the nuclear capacities of both countries and the growing tensions between them, in particular over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
The assessment, known as a National Intelligence Estimate, began late last summer after Pakistan-backed militants crossed over the high mountain peaks of Kashmir into the Indian-controlled area of Kargil, setting off weeks of heavy fighting that included airstrikes.
At that time, the administration grew fearful that the conflict could escalate into a nuclear exchange, officials told the Times, citing both states' relatively poor intelligence about each other's intentions and movements and their lack of direct communications.
Last week, for instance, President Clinton talked by telephone with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of India, who is due on a state visit next month, said Samuel R. Berger, the national security advisor.
After the Kargil episode, the assessment, which remains secret, concluded that there was a sharply increased chance of a non-nuclear military conflict between India and Pakistan, possibly erupting into a nuclear exchange.
(DPA)