LAHORE, Feb 3: Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad reiterated here on Friday that Pakistan would oppose the use of force against Iran and instead call for the settlement of differences on Tehran’s nuclear programme through talks.

Answering a question at a news conference, he said Pakistan’s stand on the subject remained unchanged. In response to a question about Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that his country would not agree to changing borders to resolve the Kashmir dispute, the minister said all CBMs taken so far would be rendered useless in case the matter was not settled to the satisfaction of the Kashmiri people.

He said it was a rare opportunity for the two countries to find a solution to the problem, as President Musharraf was a leader courageous enough to take bold steps. He said flexibility shown by Pakistan did not mean that it had changed its stand on the UN resolutions.

About former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s allegation that ‘looters’ were sitting in the cabinet, the minister said Mr Sharif’s allies had accepted the ownership of the Surrey Mansion and during the next few days they would also admit they had palaces in Spain.

Responding to a question about Mr Sharif’s assertion that time had come for the nation to decide whether the country should be ruled by politicians or the generals, the minister said politics was a field for the politicians. However, he hastened to add that Gen Musharraf had been elected by the people.

Making an obvious reference to the powers being exercised by Gen Musharraf, the minister said there was also a time when people knew little about the head of the state.

He said statements being made by Mr Sharif were a warming-up exercise and the government would offer its point of view at an appropriate time.

He said the PPP and the PML-N could not stay together, as it was Mr Sharif who had instituted all cases against the PPP leader. He claimed that Gen Musharraf had not framed even a single case against the self-exiled former prime minister.

When his comments were sought on the MQM’s repeated statements that the Kalabagh dam project had been abandoned for good, Sheikh Rashid reiterated that the cabinet had approved five dams, including the KBD. However, he said, Bhasha and Munda dams would be constructed first. In response to a question, the minister said there was no bar to Ms Benazir Bhutto’s returning to Pakistan. But, he made it clear, she would have to face cases pending against her. “We have already clarified who can’t come,” a reference to the Sharifs.

When his attention was drawn to the agreement between the ARD and the MMA on various points, the minister did not give it much importance. He said the PPP leader had been quoted as saying that if her party could not win the 2007 elections, the ‘Hamas’ would come to power. He said these remarks had exposed the ‘unity’ between the two alliances.

He said the present government was having to face the strongest ever opposition, but it would not interfere with the provincial matters.

Answering a question, he said the elections were due to be held in 2007 but there was a provision under which they could be delayed.

Similarly, he said, the constitution permitted Gen Musharraf to retain his uniform. The minister said in the situation Pakistan was passing through, a president in uniform was more useful than the one without it.