President Addresses Pakistan

President Pervez Musharraf said Monday that Pakistan would not initiate war over the disputed region of Kashmir, but he stopped short of promising a further crackdown on Islamic militants in a speech unlikely to mollify either India or the international community.

In a nationally televised address that focused largely on heightened tensions with neighboring India, Musharraf said Pakistan would not fire the first shot, “but if war is thrust upon us, every Muslim is bound to respond in kind” and would “fight to the last drop of blood.”

The speech contained no new initiatives.

One million troops are deployed on both sides of the Line of Control frontier in the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, and Pakistan ratcheted up the pressure over the weekend with two missile tests it said were unrelated to the dispute. A third short-range missile was test-fired early this morning. India has blamed Pakistani-backed extremists for two major attacks in five months.

Musharraf’s speech appeared to be aimed mostly at his domestic audience and the international community, which has grown increasingly concerned that cross-border shelling and small-arms fire could turn into an all-out war between the nuclear-armed nations.

The Indian army said Monday that it had killed or wounded 230 Pakistani soldiers in Kashmir in the last 10 days.

Pakistan’s military said it killed 40 Indian soldiers Sunday and that Indian shelling killed nine civilians and injured 25 on the Pakistani side Monday, when the two countries exchanged heavy mortar, artillery and machine-gun fire.

A key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Musharraf is walking a fine line as he tries to rein in Muslim extremists without alienating the army by backing down on support for Kashmiri independence.

Musharraf has said his country cannot be held responsible every time someone in Kashmir attacks Indian troops.