September 10, 2003	Wednesday	Rajab 12, 1424

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MOSCOW, Sept 9: President Pervez Musharraf has said that the time of nuclear showdown between Pakistan and India had passed.

In an interview published here on Tuesday, President Musharraf said the days when Pakistan and India were threatening each other with an exchange of nuclear strikes were long gone.

“But even in those days, we kept our cool and stressed that arguments had to be resolved through dialogue,” he told the Kommersant business daily.

President Musharraf stressed that Pakistan had to keep nuclear military parity with India.

“A balance of conventional weapons — and the need to keep up this balance — will make sure that no one can win a war, and therefore prevent one,” he said.

“The tensions will ease if, through dialogue, we find the root causes of our conflict.”

Russia has been a traditional ally of India over the past decades and has accused the Pakistan of supporting terrorist networks — including militants in Chechnya.

However, President Musharraf stressed that relations between Russia and Pakistan “have warmed noticeably” since his visit here for talks with President Vladimir Putin in February.

“Both sides expressed a will to expand their dialogue at those talks,” he said.

President Musharraf’s comments in Kommersant came just one month after he publicly rejected any freeze in Pakistan’s nuclear programme and hinted at upgrading technology to strengthen national security.—AFP