Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf has charged India with trying to destabilise Pakistan through a "war hysteria" but said it would not attack the country simply because it was not only a nuclear power but was also New Delhi's equal in military strength.

"The reason is not that Pakistan was a nuclear power but that Pakistan was also equivalent to India in conventional military strength," Musharraf told a consultative meeting of newspaper editors and columnists in Islamabad on July 13.

The military ruler said "India was aiming at destabilising Pakistan through this war hysteria but it would gain nothing by such tactics."

Musharraf said there was much concern over the Kashmir issue and the international community was engaged in resolving it and there were chances that a serious dialogue might be pursued to solve the long-standing problem.

He also said that exiled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was fully aware of the Kargil operation.

To another query, he said former Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto went abroad of their freewill.

Bhutto, he said, would have to face the course of law once she is back. About Nawaz Sharif he said, he had gone to Saudi Arabia with the mutual consent of his family.

On his contesting polls in October, he said he may consider running in Presidential elections through the set procedure, adding the government would hold free and fair elections.

About the proposed National Security Council (NSC) Musharraf said the NSC would be an effective check on the President, the Prime Minister, and the Chief of Army Staff as well as help prevent the country from martial law.

PTI