Rather than show statesmanship at this crucial hour, Musharraf called Indian leaders "irresponsible", and gave them no credit for exercising restraint while he continued to send killers into Jammu and Kashmir for the last several months. His foray into internal Indian affairs with his talk about minority rights in India was most definitely aimed at provoking India further. It appears that Musharraf and his fellow jehad-minded generals are counting on the US to intervene if India decides to attack Pakistani terrorist bases. International intervention has long been a goal in the minds of the Pakistani leadership as a short cut to gaining control of Kashmir.

With this speech, and the ill-timed ballistic missile tests, Musharraf has openly defied the world which was calling on him to end sponsorship of terrorism and steer the South Asian sub-continent away from a nuclear catastrophe. In the past few days, Pakistani officials have made it clear that its nuclear weapons would be used against India if it carries out its threat of attacks in response to terrorism, even if it means that a massive Indian response would annihilate Pakistan. At the same time, reports indicate that Pakistan has provided safe havens for regrouping Taliban and Al-Qaida warriors. Such a dangerous combination of nuclear brinkmanship and flirting with international terrorism has created a model for would-be rogue nations of the 21st century who use nuclear blackmail to gain nefarious ends.

It is time for the US, Britain, France, Russia and other nations to form a coalition with India to irreversibly dismantle Pakistan's jehad apparatus, including the notorious ISI agency, and take over its nuclear arsenal which has become a clear and present threat to tens of millions of civilians in South Asia and beyond.