‘India will deal with whoever is in power’

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday chose to look at former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s fresh assertion to The Indian Express that India must not deal with Pakistan President Musharraf as a domestic political issue, adding that India “will deal with whoever is in power”.

However, when asked about plans to visit Pakistan, Singh said: “I would certainly like to visit Pakistan, but I think President Musharraf has problems at home and I don’t want to complicate his problems.”

On Sharif’s remarks, Singh said India would “not like to interfere” in the domestic affairs in Pakistan. “We |would like peace and amity with Pakistan and so whosoever is in power in Pakistan we are obliged to do business with him.” Returning from Berlin, Singh hoped that if the Berlin Wall could be broken then peace could also return to India-Pakistan relations.