PAKISTAN: Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that tension with India was "at its height" and there was a danger war could break out.
"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 neighbours.
Gen Musharraf told Pakistanis they stand "at the crossroad of history", and called for national unity. "Pakistan is passing through a critical juncture. We are faced with a grave situation and we are standing at the crossroad of history.Today's decisions will have serious internal and external effects on our future," he said.
An Indian foreign ministry spokeswoman said New Delhi would give a considered response to the speech today but said with Pakistan, "what you see is not what you get".
Minister of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah, whose father is Chief Minister of Indian Kashmir, said the tone of the speech was likely to make India "very angry", particularly his words on Indian repression.
Tensions between the two nuclear powers have reached flashpoint over Indian charges that Pakistan supports terrorist attacks in the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir. Gen Musharraf vowed that Pakistan would not allow terrorism to be launched from it soil, and said no infiltration was taking place into Indian-controlled Kashmir.
"But I want to make one thing quite clear," he said. "Liberation movement is going on in occupied Kashmir, and Pakistan cannot be held responsible for any action against the Indian tyranny and repression."
Gen Musharraf blamed India for the current escalation of tensions, saying it had reacted badly by accusing Pakistan of a series of terrorist attacks on its territory, including a bloody assault on its parliament in December.
"This was a terrorist attack which we had fully condemned and said that it was a terrorist attack," he said. "But the Indian leadership acted in a hasty manner and adopted extremely irresponsible behaviour. This was a demonstration of their traditional enmity towards Pakistan." The president insisted Pakistan would launch a staunch defence 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." He said, however, "in a message to the world community" that Pakistan does not want war, and would not initiate a conflict with India.
The rivals exchanged heavy artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire for nearly 300 km along their disputed Jammu and Kashmir border yesterday. There are conflicting reports on the number of casualties in the firing in which Pakistan claimed to have killed 40 Indian soldiers at the weekend. India denies the claim.
Pakistan has also been conducting missile tests since Saturday, raising fears of another war as over one million soldiers from the two armies have been locked in a face-off in a high state of alert along their border since last December.
India had conducted missile tests in January and announced it would hold another round in July. But defence analysts said yesterday India might advance these tests to counter Pakistan's in the constant battle for one-upmanship between the two neighbours who have fought three wars and an 11-week long border conflict since independence 55 years ago. In 1998 Pakistan conducted six nuclear tests to India's five and ever since the two have been competing to develop missiles to deliver weapons of mass destruction.
Both the armies went into a heightened state of alert earlier this month following the attack on soldiers' families at a garrison in Jammu. India blamed the attack like the one on December on its parliament on Pakistan and the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behrai Vajpayee, told the army last week to prepare for a "decisive battle".