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Fernandes dismisses threat of a nuclear war in South Asia

"I don't agree with the idea that India and Pakistan are so imprudent and excitable that they'll forget what nuclear weapons can do," Fernandes said in an interview to the Hong Kong edition of the International Herald Tribune, published on Monday.

"If the Western powers and China know how to keep their nuclear capabilities under control, the same holds good for India and Pakistan," he told the paper.

Referring to India's no-first-use policy, he said, "We look at our nuclear weapons purely as a deterrent."

He dismissed Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf's threat to use nuclear weapons if faced with an attack by India as mere 'sabre rattling'.

In this context, he referred to the General's interview with CNN in which he ruled out the use of nuclear weapons.

"Our aim is to see that cross-border terrorism comes to an end," and contentious issues between India and Pakistan are solved through dialogue, he said.

"The fact that we have deployed our troops in such large numbers shows that we are serious about protecting our borders and the lives and property of our people," he said.

He did not give a direct answer to whether another terrorist attack could spark off a conflict saying: "How we respond (to a terrorist attack) depends on the particular situation."

India has evidence that thousands of Al Qaeda militants, who have taken shelter in Pakistani-occupied-Kashmir, are waiting to cross over to Kashmir, Fernandes said.

"We have been trying to make this point to the United States," he told the paper.

The US fears that the Indo-Pak tensions could distract attention from its war against terrorism, launched following the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and near Washington.

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