Pakistan exodus as leaders head to summit

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (CNN) -- U.N. personnel are leaving Pakistan with their families as international pressure mounts on the leaders of Pakistan and India to meet to defuse the tension on the subcontinent.

With the leaders of 16 Asian nations arriving in Kazakhstan for a regional security summit, the focus is on the seemingly remote possibility of talks between the Indian prime minister and president of Pakistan.

The South Asian nuclear neighbors have amassed nearly a million troops along their shared border amid accusations from both about which country is to blame for escalating tensions over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.

The window of opportunity for such a meeting in the commercial capital of Kazakhstan is small. The Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia is due to begin Monday and end Wednesday.

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Despite intense diplomatic pressure from several quarters, it appears unlikely that Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would hold any kind of face-to-face talks.

India, which has long opposed third-party mediation in its conflict with Pakistan, is resisting such a meeting. Vajpayee has refused to see Musharraf until cross-border infiltrations stop in Kashmir.

As he departed New Delhi for Kazakhstan on Sunday, Vajpayee said, "I have no plans to meet," but the Indian leader said he'd judge Musharraf's actions "on the ground" and give those actions "consideration."

Musharraf, in an interview Saturday with CNN, said such a meeting "depends more on Prime Minister Vajpayee."

"I have no problem in meeting him, and I've been saying that all along," Musharraf said. "So this question needs to be put to him." (Transcript of Musharraf interview)

Vajpayee arrived Sunday in Kazakhstan. Musharraf stopped Sunday in Tajikistan and is expected to head to the summit Monday.

Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said Sunday that he was hopeful the conflict could be defused after comments Saturday by Musharraf in which the Pakistan leader virtually dismissed the chances of nuclear war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans talks with both leaders, and would like to sell the two on a face-to-face meeting.

The chances of a Musharraf-Vajpayee meeting are slim -- Nepalese diplomats failed a few months ago in the same task during a regional summit in their capital. But Moscow has some historical precedent in an involvement in the Kashmiri dispute.

The Soviets brokered a meeting in Uzbekistan in 1966 and played a crucial role in helping re-establish relations between the two countries following their 1965 war over Kashmir.

Then as now, the underlying issues pertain to committing to resolve bilateral differences through peaceful means, staying out of each other's affairs and strengthening trade between the two nations.

Shelling continues in Kashmir

Meanwhile, the region and the rest of the international community watched from edge of their seats.

With grenade attacks and shelling continuing along the Line of Control between Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, several countries and the United Nations were facilitating the departure of their staffers' families from the region. (Full story)

In a village in Akhnoor sector in the Indian-administered area, a shell hit a bus Sunday, killing one woman and injuring six people, including three children, police said. People on the bus were fleeing their village because of heavy shelling.

Cross-border firing also occurred in and around the town of Kargil along the Line of Control. (History and map)

In his interview with CNN, Musharraf said nuclear conflict was all but unthinkable. "I don't think either side is that irresponsible to go to that limit," he said.

"I would even go to the extent of saying one shouldn't even be discussing these things, because any sane individual cannot even think of going into this unconventional war, whatever the pressures."

Fernandes said that Musharraf had talked "about exercising the nuclear option" until his comments this weekend. (Fernandes calls for crackdown)

"But it seems that [Saturday] he has decided that it is an insane person's job to exercise the nuclear option and one should now act with responsibility.

"Since there has been a change in his thinking, one hopes steps will be taken to resolve the issues that are at the root of this present situation," Fernandes said.

But Musharraf said his country would defend itself while Fernandes called on the Pakistan leader to stop militant incursions across the Line of Control.

Negotiation is a "must," but "there has to be the requisite environment generated for that purpose," Fernandes said. "You can't have our soldiers, family folk, particularly innocent women and children, shot dead and at the same time say, 'Come, let us sit and talk.' You don't do that."

The violence in Kashmir has escalated since militants last month attacked an Indian army camp, killing more than 30 people. (Tense two weeks) Tension grew in December following an attack on the Indian Parliament that killed 14, including five assailants. India blamed the attack on Kashmiri militants.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will make separate trips to the volatile region this week to talk with both sides about backing away from potential war.

-- CNN Correspondents Matthew Chance, Tom Mintier, Maria Ressa and Kasra Naji contributed to this report.