ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, 28 May — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday warned Pakistan stood "at the crossroads of history", with tensions with India at their peak and war threatening to break out on their heavily militarized border.
"Tension is at its height. The danger of war is not yet over," he said in an address to the nation, delivered as one million troops massed on the border between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
But in "a message to the world community", he said Pakistan does not want a war. "Pakistan will not be the one to initiate war. We want peace in the region," he said. He slammed Indian leadership for creating war hysteria.
The allegations "with aggressive overtones" show "highly irresponsible behavior" on the part of the Indian leadership, the president said while addressing the nation. "This increases the heat of war and creates war hysteria," he said. "This is unacceptable to us." On the contrary, Musharraf said, "despite such provocations, we have exercised restraint and adopted sane policy." But the president made it amply clear "this should never be construed as our weakness."
Musharraf assured the world community that Pakistan was doing nothing across the Line of Control (LoC) "and, Pakistan will never allow the export of terrorism anywhere in the world from within Pakistan."
In this respect, he referred to his Jan. 12 address in which he had announced that Pakistan soil would not be allowed to be used for terrorism against anybody. "I repeat, we will not allow this," he emphatically stated.
"Pakistan is passing through a critical juncture. We are faced with a grave situation and we are standing at the crossroads of history. Today’s decisions will have serious internal and external effects on our future," he said.
Tensions between the two nuclear powers have reached flash point over Indian charges that Pakistan supports terrorist attacks in the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir.
The president insisted Pakistan would launch a staunch defense if the nation came under attack. "The entire nation is with the armed forces and will shed the last drop of their blood, but would not allow any harm to come to the motherland."
The speech balanced angry rhetoric about "atrocities" being committed by "Hindu extremists and terrorists" against Muslims in Kashmir and in the state of Gujarat with an appeal for dialogue to resolve differences between the two nations.
India said it would respond fully today, but its junior foreign minister said the accusations would anger his government. "I think it is obviously going to make us very angry. The stuff about Hindu terrorists and the rest of it. I have yet to hear of Hindu terrorists operating in Kashmir," Omar Abdullah, minister of state for external affairs told Star News Television. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said the ministry would officially respond at a press conference in New Delhi this afternoon.
Musharraf appealed for national unity in the face of the threat of war and also promised to hold parliamentary elections between Oct. 7 and 11. "Elections will be held between seven and 11th of October 2002," Musharraf said. "This is my promise to the nation that these elections will be fair and transparent and we shall invite all those foreigners who want to observe those elections."
