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India is planning to attack PoK, says Sharief

The Western world's mild response to India's nuclear testing has emboldened the "Hindu-nationalist" government there, which now is threatening to attack Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief said today.

''India is threatening every day . . . That they will attack (Pakistan-held) Azad Kashmir,'' Sharief told reporters after a speech at a 50th anniversary celebration for the state-owned Pakistan Radio.

"We are taking this threat very seriously,'' he said.

Since the Asian subcontinent gained its independence in 1947, the hostile neighbours, India and Pakistan, have fought two wars over the disputed state of Kashmir -- in 1948 and again in 1965.

They fought a third war in 1971 over Bangladesh, or what was then East Pakistan.

They came dangerously close to a fourth military -- possibly nuclear -- confrontation in 1990, again over Kashmir.

India accuses Pakistan of fomenting violence on its side of the disputed border, where a Muslim-led secessionist uprising has raged since 1989. Secessionists are demanding either outright independence or union with Islamic Pakistan.

Pakistan has denied giving military aid to Kashmiri militants and is demanding a vote by all Kashmiris to decide whether a united Kashmir should join either Pakistan or India.

New Delhi has refused to allow a vote in its half of Kashmir.

Last week's nuclear tests by India sparked fears of a nuclear arms race on the Asian subcontinent, considered a volatile region because of the regional conflicts, most notably over Kashmir.

Pakistan chastised the international community for ignoring its earlier warnings that India was preparing to induct nuclear weapons into its arsenal.

Now Sharief says Pakistan is warning that India is ready to strike Pakistan-held Kashmir, a flashpoint for another round of fighting.

He repeated his demand that the Western world punish India and firmly.

"We have the capability to counter any threat,'' Sharief warned. ''The international community should punish India for its behaviour.''

Both US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have telephoned Sharief to urge restraint, but Pakistan's prime minister said political pressure at home is mounting.

He also said the ''lacklustre'' response of the world leaders at last weekend's G-8 summit in Britain has made India increasingly brazen and pushed Pakistan further into a corner.

"We have exercised restraint to show the world that we are a responsible country. . . We are still watching the world's reaction,'' he said.

But so far Sharief said what Pakistan has seen has been ''disappointing.''

UNI

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