India has launched a verbal barrage at the Pakistani President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, for his comments on Kashmir and has warned Islamabad against trying to disrupt the upcoming provincial elections in the disputed Himalayan territory.
The hard-hitting Indian statement yesterday came hours after Mr Musharraf vowed that Pakistan would not compromise on the right of Kashmiris to self-rule and rubbished the polls, to be held in September and October, as an effort to legitimise India's "illegal occupation".
"It is regrettable that Gen Musharraf should continue to indulge in such negative posturing and seek to heighten tensions by provocative language," an Indian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Ms Nirupama Rao, said in a statement in New Delhi.
"We have taken note of his intention to disrupt peaceful elections in Kashmir and to continue his hostile postures towards India. he government of India will take the neccessary measures to counter Pakistan's designs."
Gen Musharraf, in a speech to mark his country's 55th anniversary of independence, said that a referendum on self-rule for Kashmiris was the key to peace in south Asia.
"The struggle for self-determination of our Kashmiri brothers is a sacred trust that can never be compromised," he said, reiterating Pakistan's support for the struggle.
Gen Musharraf said Pakistan desired a peaceful settlement of the Kashmiri didpute but warned: "We will never be subdued by coercion. No one should dare think of any adventurism across our borders."
He described India's announcement of plans to hold elections in Kashmir as "yet another effort to give a mask of legitimacy to its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir".
Pakistan's National Day comes at a time of heightened tension on the border with India and the massing of an estimated one million troops following the December attack on India's parliament by militants which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan.
The rival nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars - two of them over Kashmir - since the 1947 independence of both nations from Britain. Tensions have heightened considerably over the last year and guerrilla action has become more frequent.
The Indian President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, meanwhile sent greetings to Gen Musharraf on the occasion of Pakistan's Independence Day, despite the two arch- rivals' exchange of hot words over Kashmir.
"On behalf of the people of India and on my own behalf, I wish to extend to you and the people of Pakistan felicitations on the occasion of the Independence Day of Pakistan," Mr Kalam said in a message to Gen Musharraf.
India will celebrate its Independence Day today. - (AFP)