20000331

All ways open to Kashmir talks: Musharraf

JAKARTA: Pakistan's Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday that his country was seeking to talk with India on Kashmir through any practical means.

"I am prepared to discuss the Kashmir issue whether it is through bilateral relations or through mediation or through facilitation, whatever would be used," Musharraf told a news conference during a visit to Indonesia.

"The main issue is we need to talk about Kashmir. We need to initiate the dialogue, whatever the methodology," he said.

But he declined to be drawn on the likely fate of the man he ousted from office in a bloodless coup, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

"I would not like to put cart before the horse. Let the sentence come. I am not a vindictive man. One would like to see what the sentence is and then we decide."

Musharraf arrived in Jakarta from Singapore and was welcomed by Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid, who said Indonesia had no wish to interfere in Pakistan's domestic issues.

"We as a state would not interfere to other country, especially with a brother country like Pakistan," Wahid said.

Musharraf is due to leave Indonesia on Friday.-Reuters