Pakistan says it was set to use atomic weapons

PAKISTAN President Pervez Musharraf yesterday said he had been ready to use atomic weapons if Indian forces entered Pakistani territory earlier this year during a peak in tensions — an admission of how close the neighbours came to nuclear war.

“I personally conveyed messages to (Indian) Prime Minister Vajpayee through every international leader who came to Pakistan, that if Indian troops moved a single step across the international border or line of control, they should not expect a conventional war from Pakistan,” he told Pakistani Air Force veterans.

Pakistan refers to the use of its nuclear arsenal as non-conventional war.

India’s army chief, however, said Pakistan’s nuclear capability did not deter it from war.

“We were absolutely ready to go to war. Our forces were well located,” General Sunderajan Padmanabhan told reporters yesterday. “Such a decision (on whether to go to war) is ultimately a political decision,” Press Trust of India quoted him as saying.

On whether Islamabad’s claim of possession of tactical nuclear weapons could have deterred New Delhi from war, Padmanabhan said: “When we assess our adversaries, we assess all its capabilities. We had evaluated it and were ready to cope with it.”

Tensions between India and Pakistan peaked earlier this year when both sides sent troops to their shared border after a deadly attack on the Indian parliament last December. New Delhi blamed Islamabad, accusing Pakistan’s spy agency of masterminding the assault that killed 14 people. Pakistan denied the charge.

International diplomacy brought the nuclear neighbours back from the brink of war.