After having condemned the December 13 attack on Indian Parliament as an act of terrorism on more than one occasion, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf says, he does not find any evidence that it was a terrorist act. “The excuse that there was a terrorist attack on Parliament -- of which we have not got any evidence – should not have been taken for this brinkmanship, for this response of moving forces on the border and creating a climate of possible war between the two countries holding nuclear potential. This is brinkmanship at its worst,” Musharraf told the National Press Club in Washington on Friday.
Commenting on the Pakpstan President's speech, State Department spokesman Phil Reeker told reporters that the attack on Indian Parliament was an act of terrorism chief minister and it further reinforced the need to fight the menace throughout the world.
“We were all quite clear in our condemnation of the attack against the Indian Parliament. It was an act of terrorism that we could sympathise with and can understand how the Indians felt about that,” Reeker said.
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice also firmly rejected Musharraf's contention that there was no evidence that the attack on Parliament was carried out by terrorists.
Bureau Report