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Musharraf offers N-disarmament
 Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Friday he has proposed nuclear disarmament with India to ensure peace and stability between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Gen Musharraf said Pakistan had gone "much further" than proposing a no first-strike nuclear policy in order to build confidence between the South Asian rivals. "We have suggested (nuclear) disarmament and reduction of forces," he said. Pakistan also opposes nuclear proliferation and was "against any other country acquiring nuclear weapons," he told reporters after talks with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark in the northern city of Auckland.Clark said she hoped recent confidence-building measures between the two neighbours "might extend into the nuclear arena". Musharraf said he was committed to a "rapprochement" with India, and was working with its Prime Minister Manmohan Singh toward that goal. Progress toward ending the decades-old fight over Kashmir was being made, he said. "We see light at the end of the tunnel in our efforts to resolve the Kashmir dispute once and for all," he said, adding that the "opportunity must be grasped". "I have no doubt it can be resolved," he later told the Auckland Foreign Correspondents' Club. Musharraf and Clark discussed terrorism, trade and human rights in their talks on Friday. The Pakistani president spoke about the situation in Afghanistan. New Zealand officials have described relations between the two countries as "friendly but slight" and Musharraf said the relationship needed to be strengthened. "We need to expand our relations beyond a shared passion for cricket," Musharraf said after the talks. Clark appreciated Pakistan's role in the fight against terrorism. She said New Zealand would assist Pakistan in the fields of education and primary healthcare. Posted by: Fred 2005-06-18 |
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