President refutes N-threat reports

Published January 4, 2003

RAWALPINDI, Jan 3: President Gen Pervez Musharraf clarified on Friday media reports which misquoted his remarks over the “unconventional” war with India during the recent military standoff, and termed it “malicious”.

The reports suggested that the president, addressing troops earlier this week, talked of the possibility of nuclear conflict with India.

“This is a distortion and I have been misquoted,” the president told APP after the 3rd Post-Graduate Convocation of Nust.

“No one in his right state of mind can talk of a nuclear war,” the president emphasised.

Musharraf said he was in fact talking in the context of Kashmir, and had said that if anyone tried to cross the Line of Control (LoC), there would be a guerilla warfare.

He said there was a freedom struggle going on in held Kashmir and had they (India) tried to cross the LoC there were 150,000 retired military personnel in the AJK who would have surrounded any invading enemy troops.

The president said it was unfortunate that his remarks, made in the context of Kashmir, were distorted.

He observed that malicious intent was behind twisting of his comments on such an important issue. “Let this (nuclear issue) not be misquoted (again),” the president remarked.—APP