Sharif remark confirms Pak army planned Kargil — India

Responding to questions, a foreign office spokesman said it was known all along that Pakistan’s regular troops and not so-called Mujahideen that had been sent across the Line of Control in the Kargil sector last year. "The second, and more worrisome aspect is that of deceptions, more particularly and tellingly, against the Armed Forces and the people of Pakistan themselves by the present regime attempting to perpetuate the untenable myth of so-called Mujahideen, of not disclosing the actual casualties suffered by Pakistan’s military units themselves, thus denying them the elementary right of trust and honour which is due of all military forces anywhere in the world," he said.

Meanwhile in Dubai, Pakistan’s military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf has accused India of not being sincere in resuming bilateral dialogue and showing no keenness to resolve the Kashmir issue but said he did not foresee a full-scale war between the two nations despite tension along the LoC.

"They (India) don’t want to initiate a dialogue….they are not keen to resolve the Kashmir issue…," Gen Musharraf told Gulf News in an interview.He said he did not foresee a full-scale war between the two countries despite the continuous tension on the LoC.

"The chances of war are very remote because of the strong deterrent capability Pakistan possesses both in conventional and non-conventional arms," Gen Musharraf said.

However, he said India and Pakistan both of which became nuclear powers two years ago ought to be responsible enough to understand the situation on the ground.

He said Pakistan remained a responsible nuclear state and hoped India would not take any "irresponsible" action.

Referring to President Bill Clinton’s recent visit to South Asia, Gen Musharraf said "the visit has not achieved much in lessening the tension but it certainly brought Kashmir into sharp focus and highlighted the dire necessity for a dialogue between India and Pakistan."

Referring to Saudi dissident Osma bin Laden, the most wanted terrorist in the world, he said "we would certainly like to assist the US in resolving the issue but we can’t be held responsible for this task (handing over Laden to US)."