Pakistan�s new military leader, Pervaiz Musharraf, announced Oct. 17 that troops massed along the border with India would be pulled back and talks with India would be welcomed. But, he added, Kashmiri freedom fighters seeking independence from India would continue to receive political, diplomatic and moral support from Pakistan. Guerrillas in the majority Muslim province wants to secede from predominantly Buddhist India.

The Pakistani army ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif five days earlier in a bloodless coup just hours after he had tried to fire Gen. Musharraf. Pakistanis appear apathetic to the coup that seemed to bring to surface long simmering disagreement between Mr. Sharif and the military.

Gen. Musharraf was the second army chief to be fired by Prime Minister Sharif in the last year. His forced retirement came exactly a year after his predecessor resigned over differences with Mr. Sharif. Gen. Musharraf�s tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee was to end by 2001. His appointment as joint Chiefs chairman in late September was believed to have been made to dispel rumors of growing rifts between the prime minister and the army.

In his first public statement on radio and television, Gen. Musharraf assured Pakistanis of stability.

"I wish to assure you that the situation in the country is stable and under control,�� he said.

Gen. Musharraf accused Mr. Sharif, who was placed under house arrest, of systematically destroying all vital institutions of the country, which he said "has gone through turmoil and chaos and the economy, too, is in a state of collapse.��

Mr. Sharif, who was swept to power with a huge parliamentary majority in February 1997 elections, is being kept incommunicado at the Prime Minister�s House in Islamabad where all his personal government security has been disarmed and sent away.

The ousted prime minister surprised the country Oct. 12 with announcement of a replacement for Gen. Musharraf, who was returning from a trip to Sri Lanka when the announcement was made. He accused Mr. Sharif of failing to heed to his counsel and said the prime minister had "intervened in the affairs" of the armed forces.

"The prime minister ignored all my advice. All of you look to us for stability, but the prime minister tried to politicize and destabilize the army,�� the general said, adding that "the armed forces have been facing the clamor from all sides of the political divide�� to save the country.

"The armed forces have moved in as a last resort to prevent any destabilization of the country,�� the army chief said.

In an apparent reference to the United States, Gen. Musharraf told Pakistanis: "No outside force would be allowed to benefit from the situation.�� He called for public support "to your armed forces, which have never let you down.��

The general Mr. Sharif planned to have replace Gen. Musharraf had recently returned from the United States after extensive meetings with the American army and intelligence officials. Reports from Washington had quoted American officials as saying he had asked for U.S. assistance to combat growing "religious extremism" in Pakistan.

There have been growing differences between the premier and the army chief since early July when Mr. Sharif bowed to pressure from the United States and ordered the withdrawal of what Islamabad insists are freedom fighters from Kargil, Kashmir in India. The infiltration, which India blamed on the Pakistan military, had triggered the worst military conflict between the two neighbors since their war in 1971. While the army pulled back, newspapers reported a great deal of bitterness in the army over what it considered a humiliation.

Mr. Sharif issued the order without consulting the army in advance, according to reports attributed to Pakistani sources who said the upper ranks of the military had concluded that Islamabad had received nothing in return from the Clinton administration.

Indeed, over the months that followed, the army repeatedly had been disappointed with the failure of Washington to reward Islamabad for unilaterally giving up what the army regards as its most important military victory over India in decades.

Pakistan�s military has ruled the country for nearly half the years since its creation in 1947. The last military ruler-turned-president, Zia-ul-Haq, died in a mysterious plane crash in 1988, ending his 11-year tenure and returning the country to democratic rule. None of the successive governments have been able to complete their five year terms, while power has see-sawed between former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Mr. Sharif.

Speaking in London Mrs. Bhutto, who faces arrest at home over a corruption conviction, said she fears Pakistan is in a state of "civil war." She blamed Mr. Sharif for ruling the country with an iron-hand and engineering conflict with the president, the media, judiciary and provoking the army into a coup.

Mr. Sharif, who was swept to power two years ago with a two-thirds majority and promising to overhaul the government, economy and build up democratic rule, seems to have squandered his political goodwill with even his well-wishers deserting him.

Worry has increased that an acute foreign exchange shortage could lead Pakistan into insolvency. International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Michel Camdessus said Oct. 13 that Pakistan would receive no financial aid until democracy was restored.

"We are in a situation which is not rare ... where very serious political events occur and friendly countries decide to suspend their assistance," Mr. Camdessus told a radio station in Paris. "Since the IMF cannot carry on alone, aid is suspended."

The IMF approved a $1.56 billion loan package for Pakistan two years ago but disbursements were frozen last year following the country�s nuclear tests.

The coup also dealt a blow to hard-won trade deals. In London, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said a trade agreement between Pakistan and the European Union (EU) has been put on ice. The accord would have allowed certain Pakistani exports into Europe at reduced tariff rates.