PAKISTAN: PRESIDENTS PERVEZ MUSHARRAF SAYS THAT HIS COUNTRY WANTS TO EASE MOUNTING TENSIONS WITH INDIA

Record ID: 443002

  • Title: PAKISTAN: PRESIDENTS PERVEZ MUSHARRAF SAYS THAT HIS COUNTRY WANTS TO EASE MOUNTING TENSIONS WITH INDIA
  • Date: 1st January 2002
  • Summary: (U5) ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (DECEMBER 30, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. MV PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF APPROACHING MEDIA 0.07 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MUSHARRAF SAYING "There is tension on our eastern borders. We are watching the developments with a degree of anxiety certainly and we taking all counter-measures. We hope that sanity prevails." 0.24 3. MV JOURNALISTS AND MUSHARRAF 0.26 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MUSHARRAF SAYING "I stand here addressing the people of India through you. Pakistan stands for peace. Pakistan wants peace. Pakistan wants to reduce tension. Pakistan wants to de-escalate. Let the relationship between Pakistan and India move towards peace and amity and harmony in the future. But however having said that I haven't finished. Pakistan has taken all counter-measures. If any war is thrust on Pakistan, Pakistan forces and the 140 million people of Pakistan are fully prepared to face all consequences with all their might." 1.21 5. SCU CAMERA OPERATOR 1.25 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MUSHARRAF SAYING "I am for dialogue. I really start feeling small when I keep saying I am for dialogue and the other side keeps as if I'm begging and they are rejecting. So let that not be the situation. Let me repeat I am for dialogue but if Prime Minister Vajpayee doesn't want it I am not keen on it. Thank you very much." 1.50 7. MV PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF WALKING AWAY 1.53 8. MV FORMER PRESIDENT OF KASHMIR WALKING TOWARDS JOURNALISTS 1.59 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER PRESIDENT OF KASHMIR, SARBAR ABDUL QAYYUM, SAYING "I wish it did because as the first Indian command chief said in case of war Azar Kashmir will become the graveyard of the Indian army and if it does then we'll take it all and there's no fear about it." 2.16 10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAKISTANI FOREIGN MINISTER, ABDUL SATTAR, SAYING "At the present moment from across the border all we hear is accusations. We have requested India again and again to provide us with actionable evidence so that we can begin a process of prosecution of those entities and individuals who are supposedly implicated in this reprehensible incident of December 13." 2.41 11. SLV DELEGATES LEAVING MEETING (2 SHOTS) 3.07 (U6) RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN (DECEMBER 30, 2001) (REUTERS) 12. SLV PAKISTAN MUSLIM LEAGUE (PML) LEADERS WALK ONTO A STAGE AT AN ANNUAL CONVENTION IN RAWALPINDI; MV PML LEADERS STANDING ON THE STAGE; MV PEOPLE SITTING AT CONVENTION; SLV CONVENTION (10 SHOTS) 3.53 13. SLV ARRIVAL OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE PML (QUAID-E-AZAM GROUP), EJAZ-UL HAQ 4.00 14. (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE PAKISTAN MUSLIM LEAGUE EJAZ-UL HAZ, SAYING "We reassure India that if India comes even one inch into Pakistan then Inshallah we will use our (nuclear) weapons." 4.13 15. SLV/MV SECURITY GUARDS WATCHING 4.25 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 16th January 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Reuters ID: LVAE8IGFDYAA0IPGB48ZLSK9WYBZ
  • Story Text: President Pervez Musharraf has said that Pakistan wants
    to ease mounting tensions with India, but had taken all
    necessary counter-measures to prepare to stand up to any
    attack with its full might.

    Meanwhile of Pakistan's major political parties the Muslim
    League has warned India that the country is ready to use
    nuclear weapons in the face of Indian aggression.

    The Pakistani President told reporters after a meeting
    with politicians on Sunday (December 30) to discuss mounting
    tensions over Kashmir between the two nuclear rivals, that
    Pakistan wanted to have peace with India and de-escalate the
    situation.

    "I stand here addressing the people of India now through
    you, that Pakistan stands for peace," he said. "Pakistan wants
    peace, Pakistan wants to reduce tensions, Pakistan wants to
    de-escalate. Let the relationship between Pakistan and India
    move towards peace and harmony."
    Let me repeat, I am for dialogue but if Prime Minister
    Vajpayee doesn't want it I am not keen on it," he added.

    Following the meeting between President Musharraf and
    political leaders from all sides the former President of
    Kashmir, Sarbar Abdul Qayyum, said that although he did not
    want war, if the state was taken to the brink there would be
    no fear from the Pakistani side and that the disputed
    territory would become, "the graveyard of the Indian army."
    Outside the meeting Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul
    Sattar told reporters: "At the present moment from across the
    border all we hear is accusations. We have requested India
    again and again to provide us with actionable evidence so that
    we can begin a process of prosecution of those entities and
    individuals who are supposedly implicated in this
    reprehensible incident of December 13."
    As fears of war weighed on the region's financial markets,
    world leaders called for restraint.

    United States President George W. Bush stepped in on
    Saturday (December 29), telephoning Vajpayee and Musharraf to
    urge them to work together and pressing Musharraf to crush the
    militants.

    British Prime Minister Tony Blair also urged restraint.

    Vajpayee, under pressure at home to take tough action
    ahead of state elections in February, has so far opted for
    diplomatic and economic sanctions but has not ruled out
    strikes against the Pakistan-based militants.

    Leaders of the Pakistani Muslim League warned India on
    Sunday against attacking Pakistan and said the country would
    be prepared to use its nuclear capacity to repulse aggression.

    "We reassure India that if India comes even one inch into
    Pakistan then Inshallah we will use our (nuclear) weapons,"
    said Ejaz-Ul Haz, vice president of one wing of the party.

    He was speaking to around 1,000 people at the party's
    annual convention in the Pakistan city of Rawalpindi, next to
    the capital Islamabad.

    Tension between the two countries has increased sharply
    since a December 13 attack on India's parliament in which 14
    people were killed, including the five assailants, and
    threatens to hamper the U.S. war on terrorism in neighboring
    Afghanistan.

    India blames two Pakistan-based guerrilla groups for an
    attack on the Indian parliament December 13.

    It has demanded Islamabad take action against the groups,
    which have denied involvement. Pakistan denies responsibility
    for the attack.

    The PML is the party of former Prime Minister Mia Mohammed
    Nawaz Sharif, deposed in a coup in 1999 by President Pervez
    Musharraf.


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