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Pak's threat to use nukes 'loose talk': India

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

India on Thursday termed Pakistan's threat to use nuclear weapons against India as 'another manifestation of loose talk and irresponsible statement from Pakistan', ministry of external affairs spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said.

Rao also contrasted Pakistan's belligerent statements with India's 'responsible position'.

"The world should draw appropriate inferences from this contrast and the fact that Pakistan seems to be prepared to stoop to any depths in order to capitalise on the so-called nuclear scare," she said.

"We have never ever sought to strike any alarmist postures in the current context except reiterate that the focus here is on terrorism and that Pakistan has been a sponsor of terrorism," she said.

"It has refused to heed the requirement of international laws as it had done in the United Nations Security Council resolution no 1373 in order to deal effectively with this problem and eliminate it once and for all," Rao said.

"We are amazed at the sheer irresponsibility of the Pakistani statement," she added.

Asked about Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's reported statement to his country's troops that they would be creating a 'storm' by crossing the Line of Control, Rao termed it as 'yet another example of belligerent posturing by Pakistan'.

"Pakistan has to focus on the lethal export of terrorism into India. There is no point in deflecting attention from this central issue," she said.

Asked about Russian efforts to defuse the ongoing Indo-Pak tensions at the border, she said, "The Russian government is seized of our concerns."

She added Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Russian President Vladimir Putin had discussed 'the emerging situation in the region'.

Rao also said the French Foreign Minister Dominique Viilpin had spoken to Singh on Thursday morning and conveyed that his country had been greatly impressed by 'India's responsible attitude'.

Rao quoted Viilpin as telling Singh that France believed that Pakistan 'should and must' stop the export of terrorism to India.

Rao said that as part of India's diplomatic initiatives, Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer met ambassadors of China, Bangladesh and Nepal to brief them on the ground situation in the region.

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