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FO urges India to

reappraise its hostility

towards Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Regretting Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's belligerent statement, Pakistan on Monday urged India to, "review and reappraise its hostility," towards it.

"The belligerent tone of the Indian Prime Minister's statement is regrettable," the Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement here.

Vajpayee was quoted on Sunday to have said that India will launch a retaliatory strike if Pakistan unleashed nuclear weapons on New Delhi.

The spokesman said Pakistan "urges India to review and reappraise its hostility towards Pakistan. Vajpayee should join General Musharraf in efforts for peace in the region."

The FO spokesman said the threat of another war held out by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, "is reminiscent of the policy of bluster and intimidation that characterised Indian statements after its nuclear weapons test explosions on May 11 and 13, 1998."

"India should know that such incendiary rhetoric is entirely counter-productive," he added.

"Pakistan will persist in its policy of maintaining peace with India and pursuing peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute which is the root cause of tension between the two countries," he said.

Pakistan will continue to uphold the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir. The Indian government itself made a pledge that the future of the state will be determined in accordance with the will of the people of Kashmir.

Kashmiris' right has been sanctified in resolutions of the UN Security Council which were acccepted by India and Pakistan.ÑAPP