The Hindu : Musharraf rules out possibility of nuclear war

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 02, 2002

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Musharraf rules out possibility of nuclear war

ISLAMABAD June 1. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, today ruled out the possibility of a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan, dismissed as ``absolutely baseless'' allegations of Islamabad moving nuclear missiles near the border and expressed willingness to meet the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in Almaty next week.

``I don't think either side is that irresponsible to go to that limit,'' he told CNN in an interview.

``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.''

Gen. Musharraf said he was willing to meet Mr. Vajpayee in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where both leaders will attend an Asian summit from June 4.

``It depends more on Prime Minister Vajpayee,'' he said.

``I have no problem in the meeting. I have been saying that all along. This question needs to be put to him''.

Reacting to the charges that Islamabad had moved its nuclear missiles near the border, Gen. Musharraf said ``that Pakistan ever moved any nuclear asset or deployed its missiles is baseless, absolutely baseless.''

``If India has moved their missiles this is extremely dangerous and a very serious escalation, an extremely serious escalation. The international community must take note of this because you can't distinguish what is conventional and what is unconventional,'' he said.

``Let us hope good sense prevails (and) this does not lead to escalation. It has not, because we are restraining ourselves, and let Indians not test our patience and restraint because it will be very dangerous.''

When reminded that India had a stated policy that it would not be the first to strike with nuclear weapons, Gen. Musharraf said Pakistan backed something ``much bigger than that''.

``We've called for a no-war pact (with India), that there shouldn't be any war. We've called for de-nuclearisation of South Asia, so we've called for reduction of forces,'' he said. — PTI

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