India Insists Rebels Leave Disputed Area

India’s caretaker prime minister ruled out more talks with Pakistan until Islamic rebels withdraw from a disputed mountain region of Kashmir. Atal Behari Vajpayee’s tough stance was a rebuff to his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, and came the same day India said it had seized more ground in an attempt to secure its key northern highway. “If Pakistan wants to resolve the crisis, it should accept the Line of Control,” the Indian prime minister said, referring to the 1972 cease-fire line. Sharif phoned Vajpayee on Sunday, seeking to prevent the two nuclear-armed rivals from “descending into chaos and conflagration.”