Associated Press of America (AP) Report
Sept 11, 2002
India Stockpiling Weapons, says Musharraf
By
Don Babwain
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO (AP) _ Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday
accused India of stockpiling billions of dollars worth of conventional
weapons, creating a dangerous situation for his country.
"Their
defense budget in the last three years has gone up by an unprecedented
50 percent,'' he told the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations at
a downtown hotel. "They will soon be the biggest arms purchasers
in the world.''
Musharraf claimed India was importing dlrs 4.5 billion worth of
high-tech weapons a year. During the same three-year period, he
said, Pakistan's defense budget had not increased. Musharraf said
that while India maintains its military efforts go beyond any conflict
with Pakistan,'' 90 per cent of its force is deployed against Pakistan
(and) any perception that the force has been deployed elsewhere
is misleading.''
He also pointed to a difference in attitudes between the two South
Asian nuclear rivals, saying that while Pakistan has proposed what
he called ``denuclearization,'' India ``seems intent, instead, on
building a triad of nuclear weapon systems.''
India's consulate in Chicago declined to respond to Musharraf's
comments. India has blamed a series of terror attacks in that country,
especially in the Himalayan province of Kashmir, on Islamic militants
it says are harbored by Pakistan. Musharraf has denied the allegation.
India
and Pakistan have fought three wars since the countries gained independence
from British colonial rule in 1947. Two have been over Pakistan.
Also Tuesday, he trumpeted efforts by Pakistani law enforcement
agencies in rooting out and breaking up ``some fringe extremist
religious organizations'' in the country.
"
I shall not allow a fringe minority to hold us ransom,'' said Musharraf,
whose efforts have won him praise in the West but angered Pakistan's
hardline Islamic movement. Musharraf is in the United States for
the annual debate at the United Nations' General Assembly, scheduled
to begin Thursday.
Musharraf, who was shunned by the United States and its Western
allies after seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1999, became a
key American ally in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Musharraf abandoned his support for the Afghan Islamic movement
and took steps to help the Americans, including allowing its military
forces to use the country's bases.
Musharraf said Pakistan is working to bring stability and peace
to Afghanistan, saying Pakistan has spent dlrs 18 million of a planned
dlrs 100 million ``for reconstruction purposes.'' During his speech
at the Chicago Hilton & Towers, a handful of Indian protesters
gathered across the street, shouting and holding signs with slogans
such as "Killer of Democracy.''
Rajinder
Bedi, one of the protesters, said they believe Musharraf has long
"harbored terrorists in Pakistan and continues to do so.''
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