New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said there was no possibility of Pakistan winning any war against India in his 'lifetime'.
"There is no scope of Pakistan winning any such war in my lifetime," he told reporters.
He was reacting to a reported statement of Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a daily newspaper that Kashmir is a flash point which "can trigger a fourth war" with India.
The reported statement was published in a Pakistani newspaper but was later officially denied.
Nawaz Sharif had said he had a dream of seeing Indian Kashmir free and hoped to see it happen during his lifetime.
"Kashmir is a flashpoint and can trigger a fourth war between the two nuclear powers at anytime," he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper in his brief address to the budget session of the 'Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council' in Pak-occupied Kashmir yesterday.
Sharif's office said he had never "uttered these words" in his addressl and described the report as "baseless, incorrect and based on malafide intentions".
His office also said that Sharif was of the opinion that any issue of conflict between Pakistan and India has to be resolved through peaceful means.
Pakistan described as "incorrect" a media report that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had contended the Kashmir issue is a flashpoint which "can trigger a fourth war" with India.
"Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is of the opinion that any issue of conflict between Pakistan and India has to be resolved through peaceful means," said a statement issued by his office.
Dawn daily had quoted Sharif as saying that "Kashmir is a flashpoint and can trigger a fourth war between the two nuclear powers at any time". The report said he made the remarks during a brief address to the Council of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in Muzaffarabad yesterday.
During his address yesterday, Sharif contended that India had indulged in an arms race. "We were drawn into arms race by India," he told the Council.
He also expressed his satisfaction that the situation on the Line of Control had improved.
On the Kashmir dispute, Sharif had "expressed his dismay at the contradictory stance taken by the Indian government" in addressing the "core issue".
During a meeting with leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference in Muzaffarabad yesterday, Sharif had said it was his desire that the Kashmir issue should be resolved at the earliest.
The longstanding issue must be settled in accordance with UN resolutions, he said. He had claimed that the Indian government's repeated declaration that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of its territory, despite UN resolutions on the subject, "shows its lack of sincerity to resolve the matter".
He had also asked the world community to play its role in settling the Kashmir issue.
The press release issued by his office last night did not carry the above statement.
The statement had however quoted Sharif as saying that the Kashmir issue should be settled according to the aspirations of the people and the UN resolutions as peace in the region was not possible without it.
"The Prime Minister said that he had a dream of seeing held-Kashmir free from the Indian occupation and desired that this dream could turn into reality during his lifetime," the statement said.
About Indo-Pak relations, the Prime Minister categorically reiterated that it was India which indulged in the arms race, it said.
"We were drawn into arms race by India," he said.
"If we had a choice, we could have diverted these expenditures to the social sector uplift and eradication of poverty," he emphasised.
Sharif also expressed his satisfaction over the improvement of situation on the Line of Control (LoC).
