Islamabad, Pakistan ? President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Monday that Pakistan would not initiate war over the disputed province of Kashmir, but he stopped short of promising a further crackdown on Islamic militants in a speech unlikely to mollify either India or the international community.

In a nationally televised address that focused largely on heightened tensions with neighboring India, Musharraf said Pakistan would not fire the first shot, “but if war is thrust upon us, every Muslim is bound to respond in kind” and would “fight to the last drop of blood.”

The speech contained no new initiatives and was unlikely to ease tensions.

A million troops are deployed on both sides of the “line of control” frontier in Kashmir, and Pakistan ratcheted up the pressure over the weekend with two missile tests that it claimed were unrelated to the current dispute. India has blamed Pakistani-backed extremists for two major attacks over the past five months.

Musharraf’s speech appeared to be aimed at his domestic audience and the international community, which has grown increasingly concerned that cross-border shelling could turn into an all-out war between the nuclear-armed nations.

The Indian army said Monday that it has killed or wounded 230 Pakistani soldiers during the past 10 days in Kashmir. Pakistan’s military said it killed 40 Indian soldiers on Sunday alone and that Indian shelling killed nine civilians and injured 25 on the Pakistani side Monday, when the two countries exchanged heavy mortar, artillery and machine-gun fire.

As a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Musharraf is walking a fine line as he tries to rein in Muslim extremists without alienating the army by backing down on support for Kashmir’s independence movement.

Wearing his khaki military uniform, Musharraf said Pakistan has taken “bold steps” on Kashmir, referring to a Jan. 12 speech in which he banned five Islamic militant groups.

About half of the 2,000 people arrested in an ensuing crackdown remain in custody, but President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other world leaders have told Musharraf that he should do more to prevent cross-border incursions into Indian territory for terrorism.

Pakistan has denied Indian charges that it supports the Islamic extremists with money and arms, but it says it does give the “moral” support for Kashmir’s independence efforts, which Musharraf said will never change.