New York: Heading for his first interaction with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday (Sep 24, 2004) with "an open mind", Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said they would not discuss solutions for substantive issues as the aim is to create and develop understanding and observed that he was trying to give bilateralism a chance.

"I am going with an open mind, the basic issue is to create and develop understanding and we are not going to discuss solutions for substantive issues," Musharraf told China's official Xinhua news agency in New York.

The General said that hopefully the meeting, to be held on the sidelines of the ongoing annual UN General Assembly session, might yield a course for future progress. He said that on the basis of mutual understanding, he would talk about the methodologies for the future progress of dialogue and the confidence building measures (CBMs).

Asked how does he like the US as a mediator, Musharraf said, "This is a bilateral negotiation, we are trying to give bilateralism a chance."Musharraf went on to say that Pakistan has no problem on expanding the talks to multilateral status and added that it would not mind mediation by any other country.

"The role that they (the mediators) can play is to ensure that the Kashmir issue will be substantively discussed and solved," he said. "China is a very important country in the world, Pakistan will very much like China to play a substantive role in bringing peace to South Asia and peace to the Kashmir dispute," he said. "If China wish to use its influence towards resolution of the dispute of Kashmir, it will be welcome by Pakistan and it can do it," the General said.

Evaluating his anti-terror campaign, he acknowledged that the war on terrorism in his country does make it more dangerous temporarily, "Because obviously when you strike at the terrorists they are likely to respond." "But in the long term," he noted, "it will bring peace and harmony to the country, there is no doubt in my mind." "So we should not be bothered by the short term ... we must fight terrorism," he said.