NEW YORK, June 1: The United States may not intervene if a possible nuclear war breaks out between India and Pakistan but instead may lay emphasis on helping the survivors, media reports here suggest.In the war games on a possible India-Pakistan conflict, sponsored by Pentagon, the players invariably conclude that no vital American security interests are at stake and rule out armed intervention by the United States, American news magazine Newsweek reports.The games end instead with a massive effort to help survivors, it says. About American intervention in such a scenario, Newsweek quotes an unidentified white house official as saying, "absolutely not".Time reports, before the May explosions, the Pentagon's joint chief of staff conducted several simulated war games to see how the United States might intervene to prevent a nuclear-armed India and Pakistan from using those weapons over Kashmir."The games always ended the same way: the officers concluded that there was virtually nothing theycould do to stop the nukes," the magazine reports in its upcoming issue.Though most analysts agree that sanctions imposed in the wake of nuclear explosions will bite Pakistan far more harshly than India, they express the fear that a bankrupt Islamabad may be highly dangerous, for it could consider selling nuclear technology to Arab nations. Already foreign investors are showing signs of pulling out of Pakistan's "flickering" power sector, says Newsweek.An American senior official was quoted as saying, "We want to influence Pakistan, not punish it. That's an important guideline."Qaisar Hasan of a brokerage firm in Karachi put it more bluntly when he said, "here's nothing more dangerous than a bankrupt country trying to raise money - with nothing to sell but an atom bomb." Hence analysts advocate engaging India and Pakistan in talks, but they agree that bringing the two neighbours to the negotiating table would not be an easy task. For example, the analysts point out that India would not likeanyone meddling in the Kashmir issue and Pakistan would put it on top of the agenda. Besides, since test, Pakistan has stepped up rhetoric against India.Analysts also speak of the possibility of Iran accelerating its nuclear weapon programme with Pakistan and Israel, an undeclared nuclear state.If that happens, they say, Saudi Arabia will not be far behind, for it would "run" to Pakistan for help in building its atomic weapons.So far as the role of China is concerned, analysts argue, it is unlikely to help Pakistan should a war break out even though military hardliners there are happy at Islamabad conducting tests.Newsweek says Chinese President Jiang Zemin had sent a message to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on May 25 not to go ahead with the tests. But that was at the request of American President Bill Clinton. The tests by Islamabad have won sympathy among military hardliners in China who "feel particularly troubled by India's claim of a `China threat'," an unidentified westernmilitary analyst in Beijing was quoted as saying. And with `China-bashing' back in fashion in Washington, many Chinese officials believe that America secretly encouraged India's nuclear tests to counterbalance Beijing's rise as regional power, Newsweek said.US reiterates stand on J&K The Clinton administration has expressed it unwillingness to play any kind of a mediatory role in Kashmir, apparently clarifying the United States' known position on the issue. US ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson in a CNN talk show on Sunday said the two neighbours needed to talk to each other first and lower the heat before asking for outside mediation. "We think India and Pakistan should engage in a dialogue on resolving the dispute without conditions.""The US wants to be helpful but we can not take steps without consulting our allies," he added. He spoke after Pakistani foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan who in the same programme earlier had made out a strong case for third partyintervention in Kashmir which India opposes favouring a direct talk with Islamabad on all bilateral matters. At the same time, in a strong statement the Indian Govt had made it clear yesterday that it would brook no third party mediation in any of the outstanding issues between India and Pak.
