NEW YORK, Sept 12: President Gen Musharraf told the New York Times in an interview on Wednesday that an American decision to attack Iraq would inflame Islamic extremism in his country and across the region, and that, therefore, “we would not like to be involved” in it.

He also cautioned that President Bush’s doctrine of pre-emptive strikes against hostile nations or organizations armed with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons could incite India to move against Pakistan.

“There is a possibility that India could take a lead from this theory of pre-emption,” Musharraf said.

“And they may undertake an adventurous act. But I would like to hasten to add that here the situation is different. Pakistan is not Iraq, and India is not the United States.” In other words, he added, “they’d better not try it.”

“Therefore, the danger remains explosive,” he stressed.

He warned that tension between the two nuclear-armed adversaries remained high in Kashmir. “We are killing each other almost on a daily basis,” he said.

Musharraf said he would caution President Bush, whom he was to meet Wednesday afternoon after a United Nations General Assembly session, to seek the consensus of the international community and of Muslim nations before starting military operations against Iraq.

He expressed concern that any expansion of war in the region might undermine the allied campaign to stabilize Afghanistan and strengthen its central government. An assassination attempt last week against Hamid Karzai, the Afghan leader, set off a spike in anxiety levels among coalition forces and allies supporting the new leadership.

“The operation needs to be taken to its logical end,” he said. “It needs to be culminated with government established over the whole of Afghanistan. Leaving it half there would be extremely dangerous.”

The Times said during the interview Musharraf defended his decision to amend the Constitution unilaterally, expand his control over the country and limit any challenges from former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.