I am prepared to deal with India on all contentious issues as a package and the status of Kashmir cannot be treated separately, Gen Musharraf said in an interview published in the Guardian newspaper today. The General, who sacked the Nawaz Sharif Government in a coup on October 12, however, said neither had he called Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee nor was he planning to do so. In his first interview with a British newspaper, the Chief Executive of Pakistan said accountability was the key factor and his first task was a thorough cleansing of the nation. We will start at the top and work down.
Nobody is out of the ring.
We have a lot of work to do. Gen Musharraf said he proposed to announce the caretaker Government in a few days. The delay, he said, had not been due to indecision. The delay has been getting the right people. The Army Chief, in the interview conducted before Commonwealth suspended Pakistan from the body yesterday, said Islamabad always had a special relationship with China.