Nuclear 'insanity' call calms India
By Kimina Lyall, South-East Asia correspondent and Agencies
03jun02
INDIAN Defence Minister George Fernandes yesterday welcomed Pakistan's admission that nuclear war would not be "sane", saying it suggested President Pervez Mush arraf had stepped back from attempts to blackmail India with nuclear threats.
In an emotional address to a meeting of Asian defence ministers in Singapore, Mr Fernandes accused Pakistan of trying to "blackmail India and the rest of the global community" with threats to resort to nuclear weapons.
But questioned later, he said remarks by General Musharraf, who on Saturday conceded that "any sane individual cannot even think" of using nuclear weapons, were a "great development".
His comments came as the UN began evacuating family of its personnel from Pakistan and the Australian Government urged its citizens in both countries to leave.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Canberra had contingency plans should there be nuclear war on the subcontinent, describing the situation as "tense but stable".
Australians fighting in Afghanistan were secure and were not included in any evacuation plans, he said.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and General Musharraf prepared to attend a conference in Kazhakstan today and tomorrow that international observers hope could lead to a meeting between the two – although Mr Vajpayee yesterday ruled out any such meeting.
At the Asia security conference – the first multilateral dialogue between Asian and Pacific defence ministers – Mr Fernandes said he believed war between the two nations was not imminent.
"India will not be impulsive," he said, stressing the policy that the country's nuclear weapons were deterrents.
The help his country most needed was from the US, Mr Fernandes said. He had used his meeting with US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to call for Washington to withdraw financial support from the Musharraf regime.
"Pakistan wouldn't be able to do what it was doing if the US should withdraw the kind of financial assistance . . . provided to General Musharaf," Mr Fernades said.
After meeting Mr Fernandes yesterday, Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill said his Indian counterpart was keen to downplay any immediate threat of nuclear conflict.
Mr Hill said that although Mr Fernandes wanted the Kashmir problem to be seen simply as a bilateral issue, Senator Hill had told him he believed the crisis was a global problem and that Australia was willing to provide assistance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will probably attempt to arrange a meeting between General Musharraf and Mr Vajpayee in the next two days at Almaty, but if he fails senior US officials will try to work with the pair.
AFP, AAP
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