ALMATY, June 3: President Pervez Musharraf said here on Monday that he was ready for “unconditional” dialogue with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee with a view to defusing border tensions.

Talking to reporters after a bilateral meeting with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev here, Gen Musharraf said Pakistan did not want war. He hoped India would see reason and come to the negotiating table.

“You cannot clap with one hand and, therefore, my hope is that we will be able to settle our disputes peacefully and with the active intervention of the international community. We are ready for unconditional dialogue.”

Answering a question, Gen Musharraf said Russia enjoyed a great measure of influence on India and as such could do a lot to defuse the tension between Islamabad and Delhi.

“But from our side there is a commitment for peace and resolution of all disputes through dialogue,” he added.

President Musharraf further said that whatever was possible would be done by Pakistan to normalize relations with India and in this behalf he appreciated the efforts being made by the international community. The Almaty conference, he hoped, would also help remove differences between Pakistan and India.

President Nazarbayev said he had held positive and fruitful bilateral discussions with the Pakistani president. He said he foresaw greater political and economic cooperation between the two countries.

Besides, hectic diplomatic efforts were being made to arrange a one-on-one meeting between President Musharraf and Mr Vajpayee with a view to de-escalating the situation.

Sources said that United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan had talked to President Musharraf by telephone in Dushanbe before he left for Almaty on Monday, and asked him to hold talks with Mr Vajpayee.

The president assured the secretary-general that Pakistan was all for peace and that he was ready to meet the Indian leader any time and at any place.

As part of those efforts, Chinese President Jiang Zemin will be holding meetings here with President Musharraf and Mr Vajpayee in order to persuade them to avert war and start talking.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Mr Vajpayee to find out how a peaceful solution of all disputes between India and Pakistan could be achieved.

Earlier in the day, President Nazarbayev held a meeting with Mr Vajpayee. Later, the two leaders told reporters that they had pledged to work together to curb terrorism and ensure the creation of a new security system through the 16-member new organization — Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building in Asia (CICA). The CICA summit will begin on Tuesday.

In reply to a question, the Indian premier said that he had come to Almaty to talk about serious issues such as terrorism and extremism. He took care not to mention Pakistan which is being considered in diplomatic observers very significant.

Soon after his arrival here, President Musharraf held talks with President Nazarbayev. He told reporters that he had a very good meeting with the Kazakh leader.

He hoped that CICA would come up to the expectations of the international community to adopt strong measures against terrorism for which Pakistan was already fully cooperating with the United States, European Union and other countries.

Agencies add: President Musharraf said that President Nazarbayev had told him that he had been unable to obtain an assurance from Mr Vajpayee that the Indian premier would agree to speak to him.

Tuesday’s conference has been totally overshadowed by the India-Pakistan tensions.

After his meeting with President Nazarbayev, Mr Vajpayee highlighted India’s problems with Pakistan by calling on the summit, which is due to pass a resolution on terrorism, to issue a strong warning to countries which sponsor terrorists.

“India is continuously fighting against terrorism sponsored by one nation,” Mr Vajpayee said without naming Pakistan directly. “Their objective is to weaken the social and cultural fabric of our society.”

INDIAN MINISTER: Indian Deputy Foreign Minister Omar Abdullah reiterated that direct talks with Pakistan would not take place unless there were clear signs of a reduction in the number of militants crossing into occupied Kashmir.