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Iran minister calls for positive response to Indo-Pak crisis

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, fresh from a visit to India and Pakistan, said today that it is crucial how the five original nuclear powers react to the recent nuclear testing by the two countries.

''I think that pressure and sanctions are not going to be helpful,'' Kharrazi told the media hours before foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States were to convene an emergency meeting in Geneva. ''Concentrate on the positive.''

Kharrazi said he believes bilateral talks between India and Pakistan on security, nuclear issues and Kashmir would be a useful first step toward defusing tension on the Asian subcontinent.

The United States is the only country among the five that has imposed sanctions on both countries after their nuclear testing.

''Sanctions wouldn't force either country to back down and no such action could undo what has been done,'' Kharrazi said.

Last Monday in Islamabad, Kharrazi praised Pakistan's development of an Islamic bomb as the Muslim world's first defence against Israel's widely suspected nuclear arsenal.

''The terminology of the Islamic bomb is meaningless,'' Kharrazi said today. ''Islam has thoughts, and thoughts are not exploding but spreading.''

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