WASHINGTON, Jan 20: President Pervez Musharraf said he did not believe tension between Pakistan and India would translate into a war.

“Let me assure you from a military point of view, from a diplomatic-political point of view, I don’t think there can be war — unless there’s some mad action, but that’s always a possibility,” Musharraf told Newsweek magazine in an interview for Monday’s issue.

He said India had downgraded the alert status of its air force and had refrained from deploying some ground forces “that would give them the full potential for an offensive.”

But Musharraf said the two countries should make a serious effort to resolve their dispute over the disputed region of Kashmir, which has fueled regional tensions for nearly 50 years.

“Both groups have to show realism and flexibility and reach a solution,” he said. “There is no doubt in my mind that we can reach a solution.”

To a question, President Musharraf said that risk of nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India would remain unless the core issue of Kashmir was resolved.

“Yes, I think so, because of one of the most serious conflicts in the world is Kashmir,” Gen Musharraf said when asked that some people believe this region of the world has the highest risk of nuclear war.

“The dispute has been going on for almost 50 years. Both countries being nuclear-capable, certainly one realizes this must be dangerous,” the President told Newsweek magazine’s Rod Nordland and Zahid Hussain.

“I keep saying we have to resolve the core issue, otherwise this danger remains. We must resolve the core issue,” Gen Musharraf said.

Replying to a question about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, he said: “There are four possibilities. I said a few days ago that he is (probably) alive in the mountains. I would like now to amend that; now I think he’s (probably) dead. There were two kidney-dialysis machines in Afghanistan.

“They were donated by him; one was meant exclusively for his use and the other was for public use. I don’t know how he’s getting his dialysis in the cave or wherever he is, and I presume that he is dead.

“Possibility two is that he is alive and somewhere in his caves. Because in those mountains, you cannot cover every inch of that area, it’s not possible even to bomb every inch of territory there. Possibility three is that he has escaped from Afghanistan and gone somewhere.”

Gen Musharraf said the last possibility is that he escaped to Pakistan. “I’m not just trying to convince the world that he’s not in Pakistan. I say it is the least likely possibility because we have deployed troops, they are everywhere. And we have taken the tribal leaders into our confidence, and they have assured us they would tell us. He is not a man who can hide so comfortably, and this is not an unpopulated area. There are many who would come (forward) and declare that he is there, I am very sure of that. And yes, there is the $25 million reward, also.”

Asked if he gave Colin Powell a message to take to India, he said, “Yes, I told him that we are for peace with India. (We are in favor of) reconciliation, dialogue, moving forward on Kashmir. We can resolve the issue through negotiations.”—AFP/NNI