Is anyone keeping up on the possibility of actual nuclear war between Pakistan and India? Lots of fun.

Musharraf: there will be no more sacrifices By Edward Luce and Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad Published: May 27 2002 20:56 | Last Updated: May 27 2002 20:56

General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, said on Monday that Pakistan would not make any further sacrifices of the country's "honour and dignity" as the price of avoiding war with India.

India, which has hundreds of thousands of troops on high alert along the Line of Control, the international border that divides the disputed province of Kashmir, has strongly hinted that it will launch military strikes on its nuclear-armed neighbour unless Pakistan ceases its alleged sponsorship of terrorism.

But in a one-hour interview with the Financial Times, Gen Musharraf flatly denied that there was any cross-border terrorist infiltration of India's portion of Kashmir. Gen Musharraf, who earlier gave a 25-minute broadcast to the nation, also ruled out any possibility of handing over 20 alleged terrorists - India's other key demand.

"India cannot be both the accusers and judges," said Gen Musharraf. "We have made it very clear that there is no activity along the Line of Control."

He added: "I am a military man. And while I do not want war, I am not scared of war. However the avoidance of war cannot come at the cost of compro mising our honour and dignity."

In a strong hint that Pakistan would retaliate heavily to any Indian military action, Gen Musharraf said that Pakistan was neither a "walk-over" nor weak. Pakistan is to test a third nuclear-capable missile on Tuesday, following two tests at the weekend.

"We have good military deterrence," he said. "We not only have a good defensive capability but a good offensive defensive capability. It would not be responsible for a head of state to discuss our nuclear deterrent. But the level of conventional forces that we maintain is more than adequate to implement our strategy of deterrence."

Gen Musharraf's message in unlikely to assuage India, which maintains that infiltration has continued across the LOC at the same rate or higher than previous years. Hopes had also been raised in New Delhi that Pakistan would hand over at least the 10 Indian passport holders on the list of 20 alleged terrorists that reside in Pakistan.

But Gen Musharraf told the FT that some of the names that India submitted were "ridiculous", including those of people who had allegedly committed crimes in 1980. "We can give India a list of names who committed crimes in 1947 [when India was partitioned]," he said.

On cross-border infiltration, Gen Musharraf said that he was considering "unilaterally" stepping up the presence of United Nations observers on Pakistan's side of the LOC to verify the absence of "infiltration activity".

India says that Pakistan-based groups were responsible for the assassination last week of Abdul Gani Lone, a leading Kashmiri separatist, in Srinagar and for the massacre the previous week of 34 Indian soldiers and their families in Jammu.

-- (XP@notnow.com), May 28, 2002

Answers

I've been watching it for a while now, and the situation is looking worse all the time. There is a report that I just read on Timebomb2000.com that India and Pakistan have both moved some of their nukes along the border. I think this is something that we need to watch carefully and think about how it may affect us.

-- Deena in GA (dsmj55@aol.com), May 28, 2002.

It isn't looking good at all. I really hope they don't toss nukes at each other. 12 million is the estimate for deaths if they do---I think that is at first, too. Not the good.

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), May 29, 2002.