Former Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said he had considered using nuclear weapons against India after the terror attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001. There was “a danger when the nuclear threshold could have been crossed”, Musharraf told Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun in an interview.
The former military dictator said tensions were high between India and Pakistan following the attack with more than one million security personnel deployed along the border till October 2002. He decided against using nuclear weapons, possibly over fears of retaliation, the newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The former Pakistani leader said neither India nor Pakistan at that time had nuclear warheads on their missiles. It would have taken one or two days to make them launch-ready, Musharraf added. “We did not do that and we do not think India also did that, thank God,” he said.
Four accused Mohammad Afzal Guru, Shaukar Hussain Guru, Syed Abdul Rahman Gilani and Ansan Guru were tried in connection with the case. On February 9, 2013, Afzal Guru was hanged in Tihar Jail, while SAR Gilani was acquitted in the case in 2002.
Musharraf had served as the president of Pakistan between 2001 and 2008. In 2007, he was charged with involvement in the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He has been living in Dubai since 2016 when he was allowed to leave Pakistan for medical reasons.
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