Musharraf Says Pakistan Stands at War Crossroads

27/05/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Threat of War Remains||Musharraf Calls on International Community to Intervene||India's Response to Speech Not forthcoming as of yet||STORY: President Pervez Musharraf said Monday nuclear-capable Pakistan did not want war with India, but was ready to respond with full force if Indian forces attacked. (Read photo caption)

"We do not want war. But if war is thrust upon us, we would respond with full might, and give a befitting reply," he said after his country tested two ballistic missiles over the weekend said to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

"We are faced with a grave situation and we are standing at the crossroads of history," he said in a televised address to his nation amid mounting fears of a fourth war between the nuclear-armed neighbors. "The danger of war is not yet over."

The two South Asian states have massed about a million men along their border since a December attack on India's parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based Kashmiri militants.

Tension soared again after an attack by suspected Islamic militants on an Indian army based in disputed Kashmir region on May 14, prompting Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to tell his front-line troops to prepare for a "decisive fight."

CROSS BORDER SHELLING CONTINUES

Meanwhile, the Indian and Pakistani armies Monday exchanged artillery and machine gun fire across the Line of Control. Reports of shelling have come in from at least six sectors on the Indian side. In Kargil sector, there are reports of people fleeing their homes as shelling intensifies.

Eight civilians were wounded -- one seriously -- when suspected Kashmiri militants lobbed a grenade at a post of the Central Reserve Police Force in Anantnag town, about 55 kilometers south of Srinagar. The grenade missed its target and landed on a group of civilians.

The Pakistan army said India targeted several villages Sunday, killing nine civilians and injuring 42 others.

An Indian border security official said a border security force officer was killed and three villagers were injured Sunday when Indian and Pakistan troops on both sides of the Line of Control traded artillery and machine gun fire for several hours.
The fighting took place in the Sunda Bani sector, located in Poonch district, in the Indian-administered area.

PHOTO CAPTION

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, in a national address, has said the danger of war with neighboring India is not yet over. Appealing for national unity, he also promised to hold parliamentary elections between October 7 and 11. The speech came a day after the country successfully fired what it called an "indigenously developed" short-range missile in southern Pakistan -- the second missile test in as many days. The Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sunday said, what he calls, India's patience was running thin.






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