ISLAMABAD, April 14: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has expressed the hope that public, media and business opinion in both India and Pakistan will help the dialogue process move forward irrespective of the outcome of the forthcoming Indian general elections.

He told BBC's 'Hard Talk' programme telecast on Wednesday that there had been a change in the environment after so many years and both sides were aware of this. Governments could change but the reality would remain there, he said.

Answering a question, the president said he did not see any "cooling down" of the recently improved relations between the two South Asian nations. "They are as cool or warm as they were before".

He said that talks on the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service involved technical aspects and both sides had postponed the talks after mutual understanding and also expressed the desire to move forward.

The president reiterated Pakistan's emphasis that both, the confidence-building measures and the dialogue process had to move forward in tandem for resolution of outstanding disputes, including Kashmir.

Responding to a question about possible solutions of the Kashmir dispute, he said: "There are many solutions, but we need to develop consensus". He said Kashmir was not a trivial issue. "The CBMs and the dialogue process must move in harmony and we must talk on Kashmir and move forward."

President Musharraf said Pakistan believed that when the foreign ministers of the two countries met in July or August "they must start discussing something concrete on Kashmir". He said any solution to the lingering dispute had to be acceptable to the Kashmiris and both Pakistan and India."The Kashmiris have to be taken on board."

Gen Musharraf said that the nation, "parliament and politicians have to be taken into confidence and the government and the cabinet have to decide on any acceptable solution of Kashmir."

The president described the recent Wana Operation against foreign terrorists as quite successful and said Pakistan had succeeded in eliminating the base and sanctuary of foreign terrorists in South Waziristan. He said: "We have weakened them by destroying their communication links and now they are on the run."

He agreed that some 'high-value target' might have escaped but said there was a need to understand that it was a difficult and inhospitable terrain and it was extremely difficult to guard every inch of it.

Rejecting the criticism by the some politico-religious parties about the Wana operation, the president said the local Maliks, and leaders of other six tribal agencies and the grand jirga had expressed support for the Wana Operation.

Commenting on US Ambassador (to Afghanistan) Zalmay Khalilzad's recent statement, the president said he had taken a very serious exception to his remarks against Pakistan.

"His statement is totally out of tune with the official US policy - he'd better consult the State Department before issuing such statements." The president said that there was no assessment on the whereabouts of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden or his deputy Al Zawahiri.-APP

According to a BBC transcript of the interview, the president was questioned on the issue of his uniform and asked if he agreed with those of his supporters who were suggesting that he remained in uniform.

He said: "This is a very contentious issue. Well yes, a lot of people have, almost everyone come and tell me, comes and tells me that. We have to see. We have to wait and see."

When asked if there might be circumstance in which he might not remove his uniform by the end of the year, he said: "Well I wouldn't like to comment on it at all. But I am certainly cheesed off with the MMA's attitudes after the agreements that we had reached with them.

They're not participating with us on my vote of confidence which they had promised and also on the National Security Council. They are going back on their words.

He was asked that since that was apart of the agreement in which he promised to take off his uniform would he find it a legitimate reason to not abide by that. The president said: "No. I wouldn't like to comment on that. When asked if that was possible, he said: "Again, no comments."

The following are some of the questions on the issue and president Musharraf's answers:

Q: Do you rule yourself out as making yourself a Field Marshal perhaps?

A: No, I don't like to do that. I don't want to do that for myself. I know, I do know there are some articles coming in and some people talking about it. I don't, I really, I don't have an ego and I'm not a person to think so much of myself.

Q: So if you do go ahead and remove your uniform will you retire from the army, what will your post be, what exactly will be the arrangement?

A: Certainly, if I remove the uniform I'm going to be a civilian. Yes, I won't be having any appointments.

Q: Have you been thinking about who you'll to be appointing as the new army chief?

A: Well, of course one does keep thinking of the future.

Q: And in which month do you think you'll be making that appointment if everything goes according to the agreement.

A: One has to, one has to think October is the time when the tenure of the army, vice chief of army staff, and chairman joint chief of staff committee gets completed so one doesn't want to generally, it's customary that you don't upset these timings.

Q: So it's likely to be around October or November?

A: Again, I wouldn't like to promise anything. I want to, one needs to take a lot of things into account.

Q: Roughly, that would be the timeframe?

A: Roughly, yes.

Q: The problem of course that people see coming up is that you derive your power largely from the military and once you're out of your uniform it's their contention that you'll be politically disabled. Do you agree?

A: No, I don't agree with it fully I would say. I do derive power or authority from uniform because of the optics in Pakistan otherwise the army chief doesn't really have power as such, any official recorded or... it's just that he commands the army and this nation, Pakistan sees the army as the only organized body and the most powerful body. Otherwise, there is no written authority or power that the army chief really enjoys as such really.

Q: So you're ruling yourself out as remaining chief of army staff beyond this year?

A: I'm not commenting on that. And the previous question about my authority, well I do certainly enjoy a degree of popularity with the people which goes beyond my uniform I think?

Q: But it is a possibility that you may well remain chief of army staff beyond this year.

A: I wouldn't like to comment on that. I need to put a lot of thinking straight before that.

Q: As I said, it is an issue which people are commenting on and discussing, and another proposal that has been put forward is that perhaps you'll embark on a political career by becoming the president of the united Muslim League is that something you're thinking about?

A: No, I'm not thinking about it at all at the moment. But as I said, things are so much in a flux that one has to keep all options open many options open.

Q: Well perhaps you can empathise with the reason why people are so interested in this because you are very much seen as the central figure in Pakistan. Power is centred around you. You are the face of Pakistan and one question is that if something were to happen and you were not in that position, who would fill that vacuum?

A: There's a parliament, there's a prime minister, and the chairman of the Senate takes over as the president till the parliament decides on a new president.

Q: Well that's sort of a systematic replacement. What people would be interested to know is how many people actually share your vision or where you're taking Pakistan, the direction you're taking Pakistan in, would the people who would replace you necessarily go on implementing that vision and those policies.

A: I think they will. If whoever it is, understands strategy, has a strategic perception and has the perception of visions of Pakistan for the future, should go, this is where Pakistan should lead to, we want Pakistan to be futuristically dynamic, vibrant, playing its important role. Why shouldn't anyone take, follow that path.

SYLLABUS ISSUE

Q: But that's a very broad vision, on specifics it seems that there has been certain disagreements between yourself and Prime Minister Jamali. For instance, it's been reported on the issue of religion in the syllabus you both disagree. You wanted a more secular syllabus; he wishes to retain religious elements.

A: Not at all, not at all absolutely wrong. There is no disagreements between me and the prime minister on the syllabus.

Q: People do view you as being more, leaning towards secular politics, and being more modern. The MMA, the religious parties fervently oppose you, the ARD opposes your polices, again, wouldn't that strong opposition jeopardize anyone in the future from continuing the momentum that you built up.

A: If you're talking of the religious party, the syllabus, by the way the People's Party was fully supportive of the syllabus so ARD is not...

Q: Generally they oppose you.

A: They are looking for an excuse to pin me down somehow on some issue. And they've found a very good issue that this man is secular because United States is helping, because President Bush is praising me, because the West praises me, now they target me on this.

I am a Muslim, as good or bad as you are, or any other Pakistani is. Now I keep saying nobody has a right to even think that he or she is a better Muslim than me. I think I'm the best Muslim. So it's unfortunate that these very religious parties they, since they're looking for something to pin me down, this is a very easy course to adopt.

That he's a secular, he believes in... I keep saying that I'm a firm believer that this is an Islamic republic of Pakistan. What I don't agree with them at all is that they are tarnishing of this religion, this great religion. And they call themselves Islamics or more religious. I think they are weak on the religion.

They have tarnished the image of the religion. They have brought misery to the Muslims of this country. We thought Islam will be the binding force for the Baluch, and Punjab, and Sindh, and Frontier, instead of this being a binding force, it has been a divisive force.