India rules out nuclear war

Vajpayee: India prepared for any eventuality

NEW DELHI, India -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has played down the possibility of a nuclear conflict with Pakistan.

Vajpayee also ruled out an immediate withdrawal of troops from the Pakistan border, where around 1 million soldiers from both South Asian rivals are massed.

"There is no possibility or threat of a nuclear war," Vajpayee said during a televised press conference while on a visit to the northern town of Shimla, in a report in the Times of India newspaper on Tuesday.

"India had already declared that it would not be the first to use nuclear weapons and Pakistan has also expressed similar views. I do not see any threat of a nuclear war."

But Vajpayee added that India was "prepared for any eventuality" -- an indication that a military standoff between the nuclear foes that has lasted months was no closer to an end.

"There was no such proposal" to the withdrawal of troops from the border, Vajpayee said.

'Make believe'

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However, his outspoken defense minister, George Fernandes, chose to launch a verbal attack on Pakistan and its leader, President Pervez Musharraf.

Saying Musharraf was living in a "make-believe world", Fernandes warned Pakistan "not to miscontrue our restraint in any way."

"They have tasted defeat at our hands several times. India is a powerful nation and Pakistan stands nowhere near it. Musharraf should know Pakistan's aukat [standing] and speak accordingly," he said as quoted by the Times.

In tit-for-tat posturing, Fernandes was responding to an earlier threat from the Pakistani leader.

"If India has any aggressive designs, it should not remain under any sort of misconception. Pakistan today possesses a powerful military might and can give a crushing reply to all types of aggression," Musharaf said on Saturday during Pakistan's National Day.

Crackdown

Pakistani paramilitary men fix an anti-aircraft gun at Karachi International Airport

The two nuclear neighbors began their tense border build up following a suicide raid on India's parliament in New Delhi in December.

India has blamed the attack on Pakistan-based militant groups and demanded that Musharraf halt Pakistani support for cross-border militancy.

The Pakistani president began a nationwide crackdown on religious extremism in January, arresting and detaining thousands as well as outlawing several groups.

But India says he has not done enough to justify a military de-escalation or resume bilateral dialogue.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of encouraging a militant insurgency in India-controlled Kashmir that has killed more than 25,000 since it began in 1989.

Pakistan denies the charge and says it provides only moral and diplomatic support for Kashmiri's "right of self determination"