The Boston Globe - 07.08.2019

A6 The World The Boston Globe WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2019

ByJeffrey Gettleman

andKaiSchultz

NEW YORK TIMES

NEWDELHI— India-ad-

ministeredKashmirremained

in lockdown Tuesday, and In-

dia faced mounting criticism, a

day after New Delhistripped

the disputedterritory of its au-

tonomy.

The prime minister of Paki-

stan, whichclaimspart of

Kashmirand has fought two

warswithIndia over it, lashed

out at his counterpart, Naren-

dra Modi, accusinghim of pro-

moting “an ideology that puts

Hindusabove all other reli-

gions and seeks to establisha

state that represses all other re-

ligious groups.”

WhileModi’sdecisionwas

welcomed by many Indians,

someanalysts weresharply

critical, calling it another at-

tack on India’s secular identity,

and part of a populist streak

that plays to the prejudices and

fears of its Hindumajority.

KashmirismajorityMuslim.

“There are timesin the his-

tory of a republicwhenit re-

ducesitselfto jackboot. Noth-

ing moreand nothingless. We

are witnessing that momentin

Kashmir,” wrotePratap Bhanu

Mehta, a columnist at The Indi-

an Express.“This is not the

dawn of a new constitutional

settlement, designedto elicit

free allegiance. It is repression,

plain and simple.”

Reaction was muted again

Tuesday in Kashmir, where all

telephone and internet services

remained suspended, and

schoolswereclosed. Withtens

of thousands of Indian soldiers

patrolling the streets and en-

forcing a curfew, few people

dared to venture outside.

Pakistan’s army chief, Gen-

eral Qamar Javed Bajwa, said

Tuesday, “We are prepared and

shallgo to any extent” to help

Kashmiris. Most analysts,

though,believe that Pakistan,

withits economy on the skids

and its eagerness to find some

help from Western allies, won’t

do anything aggressive and will

mostly complain.

For decades, Kashmirhas

suffered along the India-Paki-

stan border, a mountainous

territory claimed by bothnu-

clear-armed countries and the

site of intense border clashes.

But Monday, India’s govern-

ment announced it had found a

new solution. Amit Shah, In-

dia’s home minister, delivered

the stunning news on the floor

of Parliamentthat the central

government was unilaterally

revoking the special status that

Jammuand Kashmir had en-

joyed as a semiautonomous

state since1947 and splitting

the state into two federal terri-

tories.

Shahinsisted this would

bringbetter governance, a

floodof investmentand,most

importantly, peace.Many Indi-

ans support him,including

progressive political leaders

from otherparties who seem to

sense how well stern action on

Kashmirplays into nationalist

feelings.

But someIndianssay that

turning Kashmirinto a federal-

ly controlled territory, which

has never before happened to

an Indianstate, will demoral-

ize Kashmiris and damage In-

dia’s democracy. The way this

was done, they say, was like a

coup.

For Kashmir, peace would

be welcome, amid a status quo

of militant attacks,repression,

and protests that has destroyed

the economy. But withthe in-

formation lockout, it has been

virtuallyimpossible for Kash-

miristo share theirviews on

the new arrangement.

India’s move seems destined

to be tested in court. On Tues-

day, a veteran publicinterest

lawyer filed the first legalchal-

lenge to the government’s ac-

tions in the Supreme Court,

which has a history of blocking

government laws and adminis-

trative decisions.

ByCara Anna
and KathyGannon
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL— The United States
and the Taliban have resolved
differencesin peace talks over
the withdrawal of American
troopsfromAfghanistan and
guaranteesfromthe insurgents
that they will cut ties withoth-
er extremist groups,a Taliban
officialsaid Tuesday.
The US side did not immedi-
ately providedetails about the
latest round of talksheld in Qa-
tar, wherethe Talibanmaintain
a political office. But Zalmay
Khalilzad, the Americanenvoy
who has beenleading the talks
sincethey beganlate last year,
tweeted that they had made
‘‘excellent progress.’’
The two sideshave been
meeting for the last two days,
and technicalteamswerecon-
tinuing discussions on Tuesday
in Doha.The Talibanofficial
spoke on condition of anonymi-
ty becausehe was not autho-
rizedto discuss details of the
negotiations.
Khalilzad,whohas been
tasked withfinding a peaceful
resolutionto the nearly18-year
war — America’s longest con-

flict — has madeintra-Afghan

talks and a permanent cease-

fire prioritiesin the negotia-

tions.But the Taliban have con-

tinued to sideline the Kabul

government, dismissing it as a

US puppet and refusing to rec-

ognizeit.

The Talibanhave kept up a

near-dailyrate of deadlyat-

tacks, despite holding several

roundsof peace talkswith

Khalilzadsince his appoint-

mentalmost a year ago. The

Taliban nowcontrol roughly

half of Afghanistan and are at

their strongest since 2001,

when the US-led invasion top-

pled their government after it

harboredAl Qaeda leader Osa-

ma bin Laden.

The US and the Talibannow

appear to be closingin on an

agreement under which US

forceswouldwithdraw in ex-

change for guaranteesthat Af-

ghanistan would not become a

haven for other terrorist

groups.

Khalilzad has said he is hop-

ing for a finalagreementby

Sept. 1 that would allow the

roughly 20,000 US and NATO

forces to leave.

The United States and

NATO formallyconcludedtheir

combat missionin 2014,but

the Americanand allied troops

continueto train and build the

Afghan military. Separately, US

forcesalso assist Afghantroops

in airstrikes and raids on the

Taliban and against the Islamic

State group’s affiliate in Af-

ghanistan.

President Trump has often

expressedhis exasperation

withAmerica’s continuedin-

volvement in Afghanistan and

his desire to bring troops

home.

Also on Tuesday, the Taliban

called on fellowAfghansto boy-

cott next month’s presidential

election and warned themto

stay away fromrallies‘‘that

could become potential tar-

gets.’’

The Talibandismissedthe

Sept. 28 election, which has

beendelayed this year over se-

curity and organizational con-

cerns,callingit a ‘‘sham.’’ Presi-

dent Ashraf Ghani,who is seek-

ing a second term in office, is

amongmorethana dozencan-

didates.

The president’s office issued

a statementcallingon the Tali-

ban to prove they are serious

aboutpeaceand ‘‘stop intimi-

dating the public.’’

In Kabul on Tuesday, a

bomb targeted a van carrying

employees of the Interior Min-

istry’s counternarcotics divi-

sion.The blast killedfive peo-

ple and wounded another sev-

en,InteriorMinistry

spokesmanNasrat Rahimi

said.No one immediately

claimed responsibility for the

attack.

ByAlan Yuhas
NEW YORKTIMES
China warnedit would “not
stand idly by” if the United
States deployedground-based
missilesto Asia, as a bruising
trade war and strained rela-
tions fueled fears of an arms
race amongBeijing, Washing-
ton, and Moscow.
A Chinese arms control offi-
cial,Fu Cong, delivered the
warning three days after US
DefenseSecretary Mark Esper
said he favoreddeployingsuch
missiles to the region “sooner
rather than later.” Esper did
not give an exact timeline or a
possible base for the missiles,
but suggested it couldtake up
to 18 months to field the weap-
ons.
“We call on the US to exer-
cise restraint,” Fu said in a For-
eign Ministry statementTues-
day. “China will not stand idly
by and will be forced to take
countermeasuresif the US de-
ploysintermediate-range
ground-basedmissilesin this
part of the world.”
Fu did not specify what
countermeasures China would
take in responseto a deploy-
ment. He did say, though, that
China had “no interest” in
armscontrol talks withthe

United States and Russia.

The Trumpadministration

has argued that Russian-Amer-

ican armsagreementsare out-

dated in the context of a rising

China, and Friday the United

States formally pulledout of

the Intermediate-Range Nucle-

ar ForcesTreaty of 1987,or

INF, on the grounds of Russian

violations.

Fu said the US withdrawal

from the treaty would have “a

direct negative impact” on

global stability and security

and called it a “pretext” for a

US weapons buildup.

Russia has deniedviolating

the INF and objected to the US

withdrawal but expressed in-

terest in new negotiations.Ex-

plaining China’s resistance to

those talks, Fu cited the dispar-

ity in weapons stockpiles, say-

ing, “I do not think it is reason-

able or even fair to expect Chi-

na to participate in any nuclear

reduction negotiations at this

stage.”

Together, the United States

and Russia holdmorethan 90

percent of the world’s nuclear

weapons, according to the Fed-

eration of AmericanScientists,

a nonprofit basedin Washing-

ton. The groupestimates that

the United States has about

1,750 deployed warheads, Rus-

sia has about1,600,and China

about 290.

US officials have repeatedly

warnedaboutChineseand

Russian buildups. Lieutenant

General Robert P. Ashley Jr., di-

rector of the DefenseIntelli-

gence Agency, said in May that

China was likely to diversify

and “at least doublethe size of

its nuclear stockpile” over the

next decade. Russia’s nuclear

stockpile was “likely to grow

significantly,” he said.

Experts say the most likely

locations for a US deployment

wouldbe South Korea or Ja-

pan,althoughTokyo has re-

cently been improving its rela-

tions with China.

Fu said that the deployment

of missiles to a US ally in the

Pacific wouldbe like “deploy-

ing missilesat the doorsteps of

China.” Even on the US territo-

ry of Guam, he said, a deploy-

ment would be “a very provoca-

tive action” and couldbe “very

dangerous.”

ByNickCumming-Bruce

NEWYORK TIMES

GENEVA — A North Korean

diplomat said Tuesday the Unit-

ed States and SouthKorea were

“inciting military tension” by

proceedingwithjoint military

exercises this week,saying they

wouldjeopardizethe diplomat-

ic efforts to reacha deal on the

North’s nuclearweapons.

The statementfrom the dip-

lomat, Ju Yong Chol, at the

United Nations-backed Confer-

ence on Disarmament in Gene-

va, camehoursafter North Ko-

rea launched two short-range

ballistic missiles, the latest in a

seriesof tests it has carried out

since late July.

Ju said the deploymentof F-

35As and high-altituderecon-

naissancedronesfor the mili-

tary exercises, along with a port

call by the US nuclear subma-

rine Oklahoma City, were “hos-

tile acts.” He said they showed

that Washington and Seoulstill

regarded North Korea as an en-

emy, despite the commitment

made last year by President

Trumpand Kim Jong Un, the

North’s leader, to forge a new

relationship between their

countries.

As a result, “we are also

compelled to develop, test, and

deploythe powerful physical

means essential for our nation-

al defense,” Ju told the confer-

ence, a multilateral forum for

negotiating arms control and

nonproliferation agreements.

Ju’s statementmadeno ref-

erence to the missilelaunch

carried out earlier by North Ko-

rea, nor to threesimilarmissile

tests it has conducted in recent

weeks. The tests appear to vio-

late UN resolutions that bar the

country fromdeveloping or

testing ballistic missiles.

South Korean military offi-

cialssaid the North fired two

missilesTuesday that flew 280

milesbefore landing in the sea

between the KoreanPeninsula

and Japan.

From their trajectory and

flightcharacteristics, they

looked similar to two missiles

fired by North Korea on July 25,

the officials said.

North Korea said Wednes-

day that Kimsupervisedthe

demonstration of newly devel-

oped, short-range ballistic mis-

silesand that the leadersaid

the firing was intended to send

an ‘‘adequate warning’’ to the

United States and SouthKorea

over the joint exercises.

The officialKorean Central

News Agency said the launches

verified the reliability and com-

bat ability of ‘‘new-type tactical

guided missiles.’’ It saidtwo

missiles launched froma west-

ern airfield flew across the

country and over the area sur-

rounding the capital, Pyong-

yang, before accurately hitting

an islandtarget off its eastern

coast.

North Korea has long object-

ed to the joint exercises regular-

ly carried out by South Korea

and the United States, calling

themrehearsals for invasion.

The drills are expected to for-

mally beginlater this week,but

some preparatory exercises

have already beenheld, accord-

ing to South Korean officials.

Ju said Tuesday that the

joint exerciseswere“dramati-

cally reducingour desire” for

implementing agreements with

the United States and would af-

fect prospects for further talks.

He said they were an “open de-

nial and flagrant violation” of

the agreements made by Trump

and Kim.

Respondingto Ju, the US

ambassadorto the Geneva con-

ference,Robert Wood, said the

United States was not seeking

to exert military pressureon

North Korea. He said Washing-

ton remainedcommitted to the

North’s denuclearization and

looked forwardto resuming

talks.

US DefenseSecretary Mark

Esper saidTuesday that the

Pentagon had no plansto scale

back futureexerciseswith

South Korea.

Material fromtheAssociated

Press wasusedin this report.

India’s actionon

Kashmir decried

Pakistan’sleader accusesModi

of ‘ideology’ in favor of Hindus

ARIF ALI/AFP

Protestersburnedaneffigy of India’s primeministerafter

New DelhistrippedtheKashmirregionof itsindependence.

US, Taliban push toward a pact

Both seeprogress

in talksfor peace

in Afghanistan

RAFIQMAQBOOL/ASSOCIATEDPRESS

A vehiclewasmovedfromthesiteof anexplosionin Kabul

Tuesday that killedfive peopleandwoundedsevenothers.

China warns against

USmissilesin Asia,

stokes armsrace fears

ASSOCIATEDPRESS

Chinesearmscontrolofficial

FuCongcautionedtheUS.

North Korea assails US, South

Accuses alliesof

‘inciting’ tension

TOMOHIRO OHSUMI/GETTYIMAGES

HIROSHIMA ANNIVERSARY —A womanplaceda candle-lit lanternon a riverduringan event to commemorate

74 yearssincethe atomicbombing of the city of Hiroshimaat the HiroshimaPeace MemorialPark on Tuesday. The

bombdroppedby the United States instantly killedan estimated 70,000people, and thousandsmorewereaffected

by radiation in the followingyears. Pope Francisplansto visit the city later this year to offer prayers for the victims.