ISLAMABAD, Jan 19: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Monday that Pakistan was fully safeguarding its national interests and there was no question of a sell-out on Kashmir or a compromise on the nation's nuclear programme.

"Kashmir and strategic assets are our national interests and we will not give them up," he stated in response to a question by reporters prior to his departure for Ankara.

Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali saw him off at the PAF Chaklala Airbase. Emphatically ruling out a compromise on national interests, the president said: "There is no sell-out, I have said that a hundred times, I am not a man to sell out - therefore, there is no question of sell-out, whether it is Kashmir or our strategic assets."

Pakistan, he said, will not give up the Kashmir cause and "wants to resolve the lingering Kashmir dispute with India in an amicable and peaceful manner."

The president said the dialogue process between the two countries will be initiated and hoped that "Pakistan and India realise that we have to move forward on Kashmir and all other issues, if this dialogue is to be successful."

He said Pakistan "is a nuclear and missile state" and will remain that way. "We will keep developing and refining our capability. "There is no question of a sell-out on either one of these (Kashmir and the strategic assets)."-APP