January 8, 2003	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 4, 1423

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NEW DELHI, Jan 7: Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes warned Pakistan on Tuesday that it would be completely wiped out if it ever launched a nuclear attack against India.

“We will suffer a little but there will be no Pakistan when we respond,” Fernandes said at an international meeting organized by a business club in the southern city of Hyderabad.

Fernandes was referring to a recent comment by President Pervez Musharraf in which he had warned India against launching a conventional attack, saying that Islamabad would respond with unconventional means.

The remark has since been denied by Pakistan as indicating that the unconventional means referred to by Gen Musharraf implied threat to respond with a nuclear attack.

In a televised address at the ongoing meeting Fernandes drew applause from the gathering when he asked Pakistani leadership not to talk about using nuclear option and get into the ‘idea of committing suicide’.—Jay Enn