Letter: Conflict in Kashmir

Sir: Why do the Western media, including The Independent (leader, 27 May), continue to repeat ad nauseam that the Kashmir imbroglio may degenerate into a nuclear war between India and Pakistan? Both countries have reasonably developed command and control structures, and above all they have no record of targeting civilian populations even at the worst of times.

There have been three wars between these two countries and, in all three, aerial bombardment of the civilian population has never been on the agenda. Even in 1971, when the Pakistani army was being humiliated in what is now called Bangladesh, its generals refused to order indiscriminate bombing of Indian cities.

The fear of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan has been deliberately whipped up by the West with the sole purpose of preventing these countries from developing weapons of mass destruction.

RANDHIR SINGH BAINS

Gants Hill, Essex