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Pakistan Fears Mass India
Attack If US Invades Iraq
By Richard Altschuler
9-9-2

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Islamabad is worried that India may take advantage of any U.S.-led military assault on Iraq to quietly attack Pakistan, Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations said on Monday.
 
"A lot of our friends have asked about what would happen if there is an attack on Iraq by an international coalition. I think a more relevant question is what would happen if India were to take a pre-emptive strike on Pakistan. That is our fear," envoy Munir Akram said.
 
He was responding to a reporter who asked at a media luncheon whether Pakistan feared it might be destabilized by a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
 
Akram said India might be tempted to time an attack on Pakistan to coincide with an assault on Iraq because Washington, the main mediator in the dispute over Kashmir, would be distracted by the situation in Baghdad.
 
But asked if Islamabad were taking precautions against such a possibility or discussing it with Washington or others, Akram referred questions to Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, who is due in New York on Thursday to address the U.N. General Assembly.
 
Diplomats at India's U.N. mission had no immediate comment on Akram's remarks.
 
India and Pakistan have massed a million soldiers along their border since a December attack on the Indian parliament blamed by New Delhi on Pakistan-based guerrillas.
 
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Islamic militants who then slip over the border into Kashmir to stage attacks on Indian targets. Pakistan denies the charges.
 
 
 
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