Musharraf Says Nuclear Option 'Insane' Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit MUSHARRAF SAYS PAKISTAN HAS NOT MOVED NUKES; CALLS CHARGES "ABSOLUTELY BASELESS" AFP via Yahoo - June 1, 2002 Saturday June 1, 11:18 PM No movement of nuclear weapons: Musharraf ISLAMABAD (AFP) - President Pervez Musharraf dismissed as "absolutely baseless" charges that Pakistan had moved nuclear missiles towards the border with India, in an interview with CNN television. "That Pakistan ever moved any nuclear asset or deployed its missiles is baseless, absolutely baseless," Musharraf said in response to a question. He added: "It was an absolutely baseless accusation that Pakistan ever moved nuclear weapons or deployed nuclear assets and that holds good even now. "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. "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." Relations between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan have been on a knife-edge in recent weeks, with the dispute centring on armed incursions into Indian-controlled Kashmir. New Delhi accuses Islamabad of backing the Islamic rebels. * Reuters via Yahoo - June 1, 2002 Pakistan's Musharraf Says Nuclear Option Insane By Andrew Browne and Simon Denyer NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Declaring the nuclear option unthinkable, Pakistan's military President Pervez Musharraf sought on Saturday to calm growing fears that a military standoff with India could lead to atomic war. As the United Nations prepared to evacuate families of its staff from Pakistan, Musharraf said in a television interview, "I don't think either side is that irresponsible to go to that limit." "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," he told CNN. The United States, Britain and other Western nations have flown home diplomats and their families from India and Pakistan and urged tens of thousands of their citizens to leave. A million troops are facing each other across the India-Pakistan border, where armies have kept up a steady exchange of mortar and machinegun fire that has left dozens dead and displaced thousands of villagers over the past couple of weeks. The troop build-up was triggered by a bloody December attack on the Indian parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistani- based militants. Tensions flared again after a raid on an Indian army camp in Kashmir on May 14 that left 34 people dead, including the gunmen. Adding to the tension, two grenade attacks in Indian Kashmir on Saturday killed one civilian and wounded 24 people. They followed two similar assaults on Friday. India blames the attacks on militants armed and trained by Pakistan who are fighting Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region. CALL FOR 'NO-WAR PACT' India has said it will not be the first to strike with nuclear weapons. Musharraf said he would go beyond that. "We've called for a no-war pact (with India), that there shouldn't be any war," he said. "We've called for denuclearisation of South Asia, so we've called for a reduction of forces." Musharraf also said Pakistan had moved some troops hunting fleeing al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan border toward the Indian border and could shift all of them if the military standoff with India worsened. "We haven't moved the entire force," Musharraf said about thousands of Pakistani troops helping the U.S.-led coalition in the search. But he added: "If the situation worsens, yes we have plans to move all from the western border." India is estimated to have 100-to-150 nuclear warheads and Pakistan 25-to-50. Last month, Pakistan tested ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads deep into India. Reflecting growing unease among Indians, the latest edition of the respected magazine India Today carried a cover picture of urban workers fleeing an orange mushroom cloud over the Gateway of India in Bombay. Secretary of State Colin Powell brought up the threat of nuclear war in a BBC interview on Friday. "Now, I think both sides recognize that the most horrific thing that could happen in the year 2002 is, for the second time in history, a nuclear exchange to take place," he said. There are fears that any war would quickly escalate into nuclear exchanges that could kill millions and obliterate the main cities of both countries. KASHMIR FLASHPOINT The most likely flashpoint is Kashmir, over which the countries have fought two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. Meanwhile, diplomatic wrangling between India and Pakistan took a dramatic twist. India said a staff member at its High Commission (embassy) in Islamabad was abducted by plainclothes men. On Friday, Indian officials said a Pakistani diplomat in New Delhi was picked up after being caught red-handed accepting classified papers from a retired air force sergeant. Pakistan angrily accused India of torturing the diplomat. Musharraf told CNN, meanwhile, that Pakistan "will fight militancy in any form," a key demand by India and world leaders trying to defuse the crisis. He said he had risked personal threats by ordering a crackdown against terrorism and religious extremism. Earlier, Indian Home (interior) Minister Lal Krishna Advani said New Delhi was waiting for deeds, not words. Addressing remarks to Pakistan at a rally in Kashmir, Advani said India "will not take any decisions based on what you say but on what you do. And this is something you should know." Foreign governments were taking no chances, encouraging their citizens to leave the subcontinent. A U.N. source said hundreds of family members of Pakistan-based staff could be evacuated. Japan urged its nationals to postpone travel to India, after a similar warning about travel to Pakistan. It repeated a call to Japanese already in India to leave. France and Belgium urged their citizens to quit. But there was no sign of a mass exodus of foreign nationals from India, despite the travel warnings. "Seats are easily available on all airlines," said Akhil Chugh, in charge of international ticketing at the New Delhi office of travel firm Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytas-06.01.02-14:43:43-29441