BEIJING, June 18: President Pervez Musharraf has termed the recent US-Indian nuclear deal a bilateral arrangement and said Pakistan should be treated on equal footing for maintaining the regional geo-strategic balance.

In an interview with the China Central Television telecast on Sunday, the president said Pakistan dealt with the United States bilaterally in accordance with its own interests.

Commenting on the US relationship with India, he said, Pakistan wanted to be treated on a par with India as far as strategic capabilities were concerned.

He said Pakistan would not like anyone to treat it any different from India “because we have the same status”.

He said that India and the US had their own bilateral interests and Pakistan’s relationship with the United States was totally different from that of US-India relations.

The president said the composite dialogue between Pakistan and India was moving ahead on the right track, but its pace was below his expectation.

He stressed that Pakistan-India composite dialogue needed to be focused on resolving the core issue of Kashmir. Conflict-resolution, he said, was all the more important to normalise bilateral relations.

The president also spoke on Pakistan-India relations in an interview with China Daily, reiterating Islamabad’s commitment to move the peace process forward in a meaningful way, adding that it should be aimed at addressing the Kashmir dispute.

He said he believed the existing congenial environment provided a unique opportunity for the two countries to solve the dispute and secure a lasting peace in South Asia.

In separate interviews with Phoenix TV, Dragon TV Shanghai and China Radio International, the president advocated Pakistan’s desire for attaining full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

“We are confident that our association with this important regional organisation will contribute significantly to the implementation of the SCO Charter that is meant to promote peace, security and development, particularly in the Asian region.”

Pakistan’s geo-strategic location makes its eminently suitable for development of inter-regional cooperation, he pointed out.

About cooperation in the energy sector, he said because of its geo-strategic location, Pakistan could serve as an energy corridor for China.

The two countries, he said, had agreed to initiate studies to build oil and gas pipelines and transportation networks from Pakistani ports overland to China.

President Musharraf also hoped that negotiations for a free trade agreement between the two countries would be completed by the end of the year, giving maximum tariff exemption to traders on both sides.

Commenting on Pakistan’s fight against terrorism, the president said peace could only be achieved by addressing political disputes, which were the root causes.

“So we need to work for resolution of political disputes and fight vigorously against poverty, hunger and illiteracy.”

He said there was a need to make serious efforts to address injustice, the sense of frustration and powerlessness. — APP