Monday, March 6 2006 16:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Keeping a brave face in the wake of refusal by President George W Bush to extend the historic Indo-US civil nuclear deal to Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf has said everything should not be seen in an 'indocentric' fashion.

Agreeing with Bush in his assessment of dealing with the two countries as they have different interests, Musharraf said in an interview to CNN last night that he was aware of 'interests and nuances' in inter-state relations.

"I'm a very strong believer that this tendency of being Indocentric in all relations doesn't have a rationale. And I wouldn't like to do that at all. Pakistan has its interests and United States has its interests in Pakistan. We need to see that and we need to move forward on that track.

"And I think both of us move forward on the track, wherever there is mutual interest. And we don't have to bother what they are doing with India," he said when asked on the difference in Bush administration's treatment of India and Pakistan on civilian nuclear energy cooperation.

Rejecting Pakistan's demand for a civilian nuclear deal on the lines he clinched with India, Bush after his talks with Musharraf here on Saturday had said the two countries had different needs and different histories.

"I would tend to agree with him (Bush). When we are dealing with two countries, the inter-state relations have different compunctions; they have different nuances. The relationship with India, who doesn't know which side it is directed, and the relationship with Pakistan has a totally different nuance," the Pakistani President said.

"So, therefore, one really, in interstate relations, countries have to look at each other's interests, the mutuality of interests," Musharraf said.

"As far as the nuclear side is concerned, Pakistan really does not need much from United States at all What we need is nuclear energy. And we discussed that with him. And there was a very positive response from his side. So,our need, vis-a-vis, with the United States is totally different between as far as Indian needs with the United States is concerned," he remarked.

Musharraf also maintained that the A Q Khan issue did not come up in the meeting with President Bush.

"No, it didn't come up during this talk. We already had spoken about it in the past, that we need to have some kind of an interrogation with him, which is mutually in a methodology which satisfied mutual concerns, and we are going forward on that, so there was no need of discussing it," he said.

The Pakistani President also flayed his Afghan counterpart President Hamid Karzai, saying he was 'oblivious'to intelligence operations in his country and was unaware about a 'deliberate attempt' to malign his neighbour.

Musharraf's comments come after criticism that Pakistan was not doing enough on intelligence provided by Afghanistan on the possible hide-outs of Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

"I am totally disappointed with their intelligence and I feel there is a very, very deliberate attempt to malign Pakistan by some agents. Karzai is totally oblivious of what is happening in his own country," Musharraf said.