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India ready for dialogue with Pak: Mishra

India is willing to discuss the issue of nuclear weapons with Pakistan "any time," Brajesh Mishra, principal secretary to the prime minister, said in New Delhi on Saturday.

Mishra was responding to a question on the popular television show Aap Ki Adalat where the questioner asked if India would consider offering a "no first use" pact to Pakistan.

Mishra, however, added that he had no idea whether Pakistan was ready for a dialogue on the issue. Reiterating that there was no need for Pakistan to fear, he said, "We do not want to dominate any other nation, nor do we want to attack anyone, but we must have a deterrent so that no one will dare attack us."

India, Mishra said, had definite information that Pakistan already possessed the nuclear bomb.

Mishra blasted Pakistan Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan for his statement that the Indian leadership had gone berserk. "It does not reflect good on him, to call our leadership berserk. Soon after the test of Ghauri, some Pakistan leaders called India a country of traders (banias). We have never reacted to such utterances," he said.

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