Asserting that there was no infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir from the Pakistani side, President Pervez Musharraf has said he would take up the Indian charge in this regard with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during their meeting in New York in September month where Kashmir would be the "central point" of talks.
Talks hinge on Pakistan's fulfilment of promise on terror: India
"There is no infiltration whatsoever taking place. I will be raising the issue of alleged cross-border infiltration with the Indian prime minister," he said.
In his Independence Day speech, Dr Singh had said that "half-hearted" efforts by Pakistan to check terrorist activities will not suffice and it has to "totally dismantle" the terror infrastructure. Dr Singh and Musharraf are expected to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
Musharraf said he would discuss all bilateral issues with Dr Singh. "And of course, Kashmir issue will be the central point in our talks," he told the Pakistan Observer newspaper.
On the test firing of cruise missile Babur, he said with the test firing, Pakistan has achieved credible deterrence with India, which has acquired Brahmos cruise missile developed in collaboration with Russia. He claimed that unlike Brahmos, Pakistan's missile was completely indigenous.
Missile test prompted by India's moves: Pak
On the domestic front, Musharraf ruled out reverting to the presidential form of government from the present parliamentary system saying that he has no plans to do it.
About apprehensions expressed by the opposition that he would impose a presidential form of government, Musharraf said, "We are not considering it at all. The Parliament has to decide. This cannot be done unilaterally. I cannot change the constitution unilaterally. Let me make it very clear that no system is perfect. It is the people who run the system".
Observing that both presidential and parliamentary systems have their problems, he said, "If there was a presidential system in Pakistan and these very ex-prime ministers were presidents and no checks and balance at all, what would have been the state of affairs in this country. Pakistan did suffer due to 58-2B (of the constitution which empowers the president to dismiss the government).
In response to a question, Musharraf said he was not engaged in any secret contact with the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) headed respectively by former Premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
He said the results of the first phase of local body polls show that people have rejected fundamentalist and extremist elements and there is no need for him to approach Bhutto and Sharif.
"We are fighting terrorism and extremism. Both are two different ball game. I thought if Pakistan had to sustain and march forward, we have to fight extremism. Moderates have to come up. Extremist must go down," he said while calling on all moderates and political forces to join hands to bring extremists down.
