In a wide-ranging discussion, the president dilated upon the utility of the recent Bush visit, why he told CNN that the charges made by the Kabul government against Islamabad were nonsensical, and why Pakistanis shouldn't view developments from an "Indocentric" mode of analysis in every situation. Musharraf laid to rest fears that he would cave in under pressure from the US or the international community to hand over nuclear scientist Dr A Q Khan or anyone else from the nuclear establishment to the US. "One scientist (Dr Faruqi) and one businessman (Jafri) are also under investigation but they too won't be handed over to any foreign power", he said. The president said that Pakistan was hoping to get a 600 MW nuclear reactor from China and a 1000 MW nuclear reactor from the US and could buy state of the art weapons and aircraft at any time. Musharraf said that it was shopping around for AWACS and that Swedish AWACs weren't the only option in the market. "The Chinese systems are being incorporated into the Chinese air force. So we'll get the best system at the lowest and most competitive price, he elaborated." Musharraf said the discussion about weapons systems and deterrence was framed in the light of India's defense budgets and the recent US nuclear deal with India. But he was careful to insist that Pakistan would not enter into an arms race in the region. The president admitted that the Indo-Pakistan peace process had stalled and that he expected the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan and help kick start it again. Musharraf said that he had briefed President Bush about his proposals and four step approach to helping resolve Kashmir and that the US president's response was good. "We have had substantial discussions on the Kashmir issue and agreed that there has to be a resolution of the dispute," he said. Referring to the need for resolving political disputes to root out terrorism in its long-term perspective, the president said he had told the US president that Hamas should be given a chance. "President Bush desires settlement of Kashmir and Palestine disputes and is also optimistic about their resolutions." Talking at length about Pakistan's problems with Afghanistan, Musharraf said he had informed Bush about the interference by Afghan authorities in Pakistan's tribal areas and handed evidence to prove conspiracies of the Afghan defense ministry and intelligence services. "General Abizaid (the Centcom chief) will also be coming to Pakistan on Wednesday on my request to resolve this issue," he said. The president said Kabul's allegations about infiltration from Pakistan were absolutely baseless. He insisted that two-thirds of the names on the list given by Afghanistan to Pakistan on suspected terrorists were old and outdated. "Issues related to Afghanistan are being raised deliberately. Such moves will worsen the situation and these can impact on relations between Pakistan and India. The bad-mouthing against Pakistan is a deliberate and articulated conspiracy," Musharraf said.--SPA 13 40 Local Time 10 40 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/337583