Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said he was prepared to reduce his nuclear arsenal if India did the same even as his country conducted a test of a nuclear-capable missile.

“We do not have any worldwide military ambitions. We maintain a force for deterrence ... If there is a discussion or a deliberation (with India) on mutual reduction, we have been saying let us make South Asia a nuclear-free zone,” he told Al-Arabiya news channel.“

If mutually there is an agreement of reduction of nuclear assets, Pakistan would be willing,” Musharraf said.

Indian external affairs inner circle is cool about it. India does not consider Pakistan as a real credible challenger. It is actually better for India to have Pakistan as nuclear capable nation. India’s main concern is China in the north and other global nuclear powers including Russia, US, France and Britain. India’s space and nuclear technology is so sophisticated that it does not make a sense to consider Pakistan as any credible threat unless Pakistan is all on a sudden equipped with modern warfare technologies.