Musharraf Warns India Against Hasty Action

26/05/2001| IslamWeb

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf warned India against ``precipitous action'' on Saturday after New Delhi gave him days to act against Kashmiri separatists it blames for a suicide attack on its parliament.
Musharraf, speaking on Pakistan Television, said he condemned the attack on Thursday on India's parliament in which 12 people, including five assailants, died.
But he added: ``I'd like to warn against any precipitous action by the Indian government against Pakistan. This would lead to very serious repercussions. It must not be done.''
India said on Saturday it expected Islamabad to respond within days to its demand that it close and arrest the leaders of two Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatist groups, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
It was the first time India had set a timeframe on an ultimatum which, if rejected, could bring the two nuclear rivals into open confrontation.
India has long accused Pakistan of sponsoring militancy in Jammu and Kashmir its only Muslim-majority state, where between 30,000 and 80,000 people have died in 12 years of insurgency.
Pakistan says it gives only moral support to the separatists and has promised to study any evidence produced by India on who was involved in Thursday's attack.
As the war of words intensified, Indian Home (interior) Minister L.K. Advani said India's demand that Pakistan close the two separatist groups was not up for negotiation.