Musharraf: Pakistan Doesn't Want War

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf insisted Sunday that Pakistan will not start a war — nuclear or otherwise — with India over the disputed Kashmir province, and reiterated his appeal to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for peace talks.

"Pakistan will not start a war. We support solving the conflict through peaceful means," Musharraf told reporters in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, during a stopover on his way to an Asian summit in nearby Kazakhstan. Vajpayee is also to attend the summit.

"We want to avoid war with the use of traditional arms, and the nuclear war issue should not be touched at all," Musharraf was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

Musharraf has said for months he wants dialogue with Vajpayee over Kashmir, but the Indian leader says there first must be a stop to terrorist attacks by Islamic militants crossing into the Indian part of the province. Kashmir is claimed by both India and Pakistan, and the conflict has led to two of the three wars between the nations since they won independence from Britain in 1947.

"I'm ready to meet anywhere and at any level. I would like the talks to be one-on-one, but if (Vajpayee) doesn't want to, I will not insist," Musharraf said.

He was optimistic about Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer to mediate talks this week between the leaders on the sidelines of the Kazakhstan summit in a bid to bring the nuclear-armed nations back from the brink of war.

"I think that President Putin can persuade India to join a dialogue," Musharraf said.

Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said earlier Sunday that a one-on-one meeting is not possible. Musharraf and Vajpayee have indicated they would meet separately with Putin and officials from other worried nations trying to prevent war.

President Emomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan said after talks with Musharraf on Sunday that his country was also willing to facilitate the start of negotiations between India and Pakistan. But Rakhmonov added: "Pakistan and India must solve this problem by themselves."

"We know from experience that such conflicts can be solved only at the negotiating table," Rakhmonov said, referring to Tajikistan's five-year civil war that ended in 1997.

He warned that negative consequences from the Kashmir conflict "could spread not only to the whole of Asia but to the whole of the world."

Musharraf will head Monday to Almaty, Kazakhstan, for a meeting of 16 Asian leaders to be held through Wednesday.