India,Pak very casual in talking of nuking each other: Bill Clinton

Branch claims Indian leaders had portrayed such a scenario during the 1999 Kargil conflict to Clinton who was ready to “jump on a plane” to prevent its escalation into a full-fledged nuclear war as Pakistan,fearing military defeat,had almost prepared itself to nuke India.

The portion on nuclear warfare appears in the chapter Eight Missiles in Baghdad in which the author claims Clinton told him that New Delhi would nuke Pakistan,annihilating the entire country if anyone in Islamabad triggered nuclear bombs against it.

“He called this the one region on the globe

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India,Pak painted n-war scenarios during Kargil: book quotes Clinton

facing a serious threat of nuclear war between two nations,India and Pakistan. Their mutual enmity was historically constant,yet chillingly erratic,” Branch writes.

“In private,he (Clinton) disclosed,Indian officials spoke of knowing roughly how many nuclear bombs the Pakistanis possessed,from which they calculated that a doomsday nuclear volley would kill 300 to 500 million Indians while annihilating all 120 million Pakistanis. The Indians would thus claim “victory” on the strength of several hundred million countrymen they figured would be left over.”

“But on the other side,the Pakistanis insisted that their rugged mountain terrain would shield more survivors than the exposed plains of India. They really talk that way,Clinton sighed. We have bad relations with both of them,he continued,” Branch writes in his book.

At the peak of the Kargil war,writes Branch,Clinton told him that Pakistan sneaked its soldiers across the Line of Control as part of its strategy to escalate tension with India and thus gain international attention.

“Clinton surprised me about Kashmir… He said skirmishes there were much more serious than reported,” Branch writes. “If they (India and Pakistan) called tonight,and said I could end this thing by flying over there,I would have no choice but to jump on the plane,” Clinton was quoted as saying in the book,which is based on the secret taped conversations between Clinton and Branch.

“Failing mediation,Pakistan’s zealots prepared nuclear attacks to stave off annihilation by India’s conventional forces. India’s zealots prepared nuclear attacks to preempt Pakistan,or retaliate,or defy any mandate for India to weaken its legal rule over Kashmir,” Branch quoted Clinton as saying.

“Clinton said the current intelligence reports detailed by far the gravest alarm of his presidency. He could not say more,even on these restricted tapes,but Kashmir was far from over as a threat,” says the book.

PTI