Pakistan marked India's Republic Day yesterday with a call for talks to end their tense military stand-off after New Delhi flexed its muscles by test-firing a nuclear-capable missile.
In a message to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf said he wanted the two nuclear powers to be good neighbors.
"I would like to reiterate our readiness to engage in a serious and sustained dialogue with India to commence together a journey of peace and progress," he said in a message published by the state APP news agency. "Pakistan desires to establish tension-free and good neighborly relations with India."
The offer comes after Pakistan said the timing of Friday's missile test by India was "prejudicial" to efforts to shore up security in South Asia, home to a fifth of the world's people.
The two sides have massed a million men along their border and slapped on tit-for-tat diplomatic and aviation sanctions in a row sparked by a Dec. 13 suicide raid on India's parliament.
India blames the attack on Pakistan-based Islamic militants fighting its rule in Himalayan Kashmir. It wants Islamabad to crush them and surrender 20 alleged criminals and terrorists, saying there can be no military pull-back until this happens.
The dispute has stoked fears of war between the two countries who have fought three wars since independence in 1947 and conducted tit-for-tat nuclear tests in 1998.
The world's biggest democracy celebrated the anniversary of its birth as a republic with heavily armed security forces in the streets and unprecedented security across the nation in readiness for feared fresh attacks.
The main Republic Day parade in the capital, normally a proud display of military might, was relatively muted with most troops and equipment deployed along the border with Pakistan.
Across the nation, tens of thousands of police and paramilitary troops on full alert guarded ceremonies and key buildings but crowds were smaller than usual.
"Are we celebrating our Republic day, or we are under siege?" asked Virender Kumar, a newspaper shop worker in contested Kashmir.
But there were no early reports of serious violence, the only injuries coming from a gas cylinder explosion at a parade in the eastern state of Orissa.
While troops and heavy weapons were absent from New Delhi's Republic Day parade for the first time, it did include a prototype of the Agni II missile, a shorter-range version of which was tested on Friday.
RSS