India said Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf's speech last night on the standoff over Kashmir was "disappointing and dangerous" and had stoked tensions rather than eased them.
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Pakistan President General Musharraf meets with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in Islamabad today as part of intense diplomatic efforts to avert a possible war between nuclear-armed nations Pakistan and India.
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It was "dangerous because through belligerent posturing, tension has been added to, not reduced," Foreign Minister Mr Jaswant Singh told a news conference in New Delhi.
In a televised address to the nation, Gen Musharraf said Pakistan did not want war but was ready to respond with full force if attacked. He also said no militants were slipping across the border into Indnian Kashmir.
Mr Singh said his speech was disappointing because it repeated comments he made in a key January speech, calling again for an end to all cross-border infiltration.
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Gen Musharraf said yesterday he wanted "peace with honour", adding war with India would be no easy victory for either side.
"Sanity demands avoidance of war, but at the same time in the pursuit of peace you can't compromise on honour and dignity so one has to strike a balance between maintaining honour and dignity and going for peace also." He also expressed support for the "liberation movement" in Kashmir and condemned Indian "tyranny and repression".
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