By Kenneth J. Cooper
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, May 20, 1998; Page A20

NEW DELHI, May 19—Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif charged today that neighboring India, emboldened by its display of nuclear might last week, has threatened to attack the Pakistani-controlled part of the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.

Sharif's accusation represented his interpretation of tough remarks made Monday here in the Indian capital by the cabinet member in charge of India's domestic security. Home Minister L.K. Advani had called on Pakistan to "realize the change in the geo-strategic situation in the region" and warned its government against trying to intensify a separatist Muslim insurgency in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir.

Sharif, who is under heavy international pressure not to respond to India's nuclear tests with a Pakistani one, said in a nationally broadcast speech: "You must have heard today that they are discussing their aggressive designs toward Kashmir. By grace of God, we are prepared for any trial, and the whole world knows that Pakistan has the ability to defend itself."

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir since 1947, and the continuing territorial dispute stymied bilateral talks last year aimed at easing their mutual hostility.

Kashmir -- where the population is overwhelmingly Muslim -- has been a central and emotional issue for Pakistan because that Islamic republic was founded a half-century ago as a haven from Hindu domination for the subcontinent's Muslims. Across the border, India sees retention of its only Muslim-majority state as an expression of the nation's secularism, as enshrined in its constitution.

That Sharif hears provocation in Advani's remarks -- which stood out only because they closely followed India's five underground nuclear tests on May 11 and 13 -- indicates how high tensions have risen in the region in a week and how Pakistan's insecurity in the face of its larger neighbor has fueled an arms race that threatens to turn into a nuclear Cold War.

Sharif called Advani and other Hindu nationalists who lead India's coalition government "fanatic fundamentalist rulers" who "would not hesitate to cross the last threshold of aggression." He accused Advani of making "a very serious threat to Pakistan."

Some representatives of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads India's government after decades as a minor opposition party, appeared surprised by Sharif's strong reaction and tried to play down Advani's comments. But other BJP leaders continued the tough talk.

"We want to tell Pakistan enough is enough now, and we will not tolerate any more interference in the [Kashmir] Valley," Tourism Minister Lal Madan Khurana said in Srinagar, summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state.

At the BJP's regular news briefing here, Krishna Lal Sharma, a party spokesman, called for "stern action" to "convey the message across the border that the Indian government will not take anything lying down."