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Musharraf:
India Conducted Nuclear Test; India Refutes
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The U.S.
does not believe Musharraf
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By
Zafarul-Islam Khan
IOL
South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, Feb. 13 (IslamOnline) - Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, now
in the U.S., has said that India may have clandestinely carried out a nuclear
test.
Speaking
at a meeting organized by the Wilson Center and Carnegie Endowment in Washington
today, Musharraf said, "The missile test carried out by India and some
information, some news even by media, [about] the possibility of a nuclear test
is most untimely, and, may I also say, provocative."
Replying
to a question, Musharraf said, "there are certain indications and I did
share this information with the United States leadership."
The
United States has expressed disbelief at the Pakistani president's accusation.
U.S. State Department officials said they had not heard of any such thing.
"We are pleased that there have been no nuclear tests since 1998, and we
expect that there will be no more nuclear tests from either side," a senior
Bush administration official said, reported the official Indian news agency,
PTI.
India,
on the other hand, has rejected in "entirety" Musharraf's claim that
it had conducted a nuclear test and termed it as a "kite fly".
"Obviously, this is a season for kite flying in Pakistan," External
Affairs Ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao said. "We have heard a number of
such wild allegations in recent days. Such allegations are completely false and
we reject them in their entirety," she said. She added that India had
announced a voluntary moratorium on further nuclear explosive testing and
"there has been no change whatsoever on our position on this issue."
This
is the second time in a few days that U.S. government officials have had to
contradict a statement by Musharraf. Earlier, the Pakistani president had
claimed that India was involved in the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal
reporter Daniel Pearl.
During
his Washington address, Musharraf also called for "outside mediation"
to solve the Kashmir issue and ensure peace in South Asia. He added that it was
now being widely recognized that Kashmir was the "core dispute"
between India and Pakistan.
Referring
to the current stand-off with India, the Pakistani president who is scheduled to
meet his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush later in the day, said "the
present tension and escalation and tension is not from our side, it is from
India...we have reacted".
He
said though the Simla Agreement calls for bilateral resolution of disputes,
"bilateralism has failed, and therefore, I believe there is a requirement
of mediation or facilitation in resolving the disputes between India and
Pakistan".
In
another significant development, India is buying two advanced nuclear reactors
from Russia. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has signed a
500 million dollar (U.S.) contract with Russia's Atmostroy Corporation for the
supply of two advanced nuclear reactors and other power-generation equipment.
"This
is the biggest-ever deal signed by NPCIL with any country and provides for the
supply of two most advanced VVER-1000 reactors with 2,000 MWe total capacity and
other equipment with long production cycle like steam turbines and
generators," chairman and managing director of NPCI, LVK Chaturvedi, told
Indian media persons in Moscow yesterday after the signing ceremony, reported
PTI.
Next
month another major contract is expected to be signed for the sustained supply
of nuclear fuel by Russia for the Kudankulam Power Plant after its completion in
about five years, Chaturvedi said.
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