Islamabad, Apr 05: Pakistan has maintained that it would not permit India to take advantage of the US-led attack on Iraq and launch pre-emptive strike on it while dispelling impression that it would be the next target of Washington after the second Gulf War. President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali continued to assert that Pakistan has made itself "impregnable" and threatened to hit back with "full force" if India launched pre-emptive strikes.
Their assertions follow External Affairs Minister Yaswant Sinha's reported statements that India has better case to launch pre-emptive strikes against Pakistan than US had against Iraq. Since then top leaders and officials of the government here launched a tirade against Sinha and India. Without directly referring to Sinha's remarks, Musharraf told a function of army officials at Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) yesterday that the country's armed forces "have high standards of professionalism and devotion complemented with adequate weaponry and equipment which provided a qualitative edge." Musharraf also said Pakistan desired peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, through a meaningful dialogue. However, this desire should on "no account be misinterpreted as a sign of weakness," he said.
Bureau Report