Musharraf proposes nuke disarmament with India

AUCKLAND: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Friday said he has proposed nuclear disarmament with India to ensure peace and stability between the neighbours.

Musharraf said his country has gone "much further" than proposing a no first-strike nuclear policy, in order to build confidence between the two countries.

"We have suggested (nuclear) disarmament and reduction of forces," said Musharraf, who has repeatedly pledged in the past to defend and strengthen his country's nuclear and missile capability.

Pakistan also opposes nuclear proliferation and was "against any other country acquiring nuclear weapons," he said 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."

New Zealand was the first nation to pass legislation banning nuclear arms and nuclear-powered vessels from its territorial waters.

Musharraf said he was committed to a "rapprochement" with India, and was working with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh toward that goal. Progress toward resolving the decades-old Kashmir issue was being made, Musharraf said.

"We see light at the end of the tunnel in our efforts to resolve the Kashmir dispute once and for all," Musharraf said, adding the "opportunity must be grasped."

"I have no doubt it can be resolved," he later told the Auckland Foreign Correspondents' Club.

Bare chested indigenous Maori warriors chanted, rolled their eyes and waved spears in a traditional challenge to Musharraf on Friday, as he arrived at Government House, while a security helicopter hovered overhead.

Bodyguards for Musharraf, who has survived two assassination attempts in Pakistan, were ordered to turn over their weapons, when the group arrived at Auckland International Airport.

Both nations said they are keen to expand trade links. Current two-way trade is worth less than USD 71 million.

On Saturday, Musharraf is scheduled to visit a dairy farm, a museum and high-tech company as well as take a harbour cruise with Clark.