Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said on Monday that he would welcome British help in negotiations with India over Kashmir.

"I would love Britain to play a role," Musharraf, in London for talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair, told the Times.

Musharraf said on Sunday that he is optimistic about solving the Kashmir problem with India but insisted on achieving a balance of military power with its neighbour with the US help.

"We (Pakistan) want a balance in our region in conventional weapons because of the purchases being made by the Indian forces," he told CNN in an interview on Sunday.

Musharraf had already said that he had asked US President George W Bush to give F-16s to Pakistan but that he could not discuss it further.

When asked how confident he is about resolving the Kashmir issue with New Delhi, the Pakistan President said: "With this standoff between the two nuclear powers, India and Pakistan, I am very optimistic about it because of the joint statement that was issued between me and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh."

He said that they would be discussing "all options for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute" in a purposeful manner.

"So there is light at the end of the tunnel. I would say we need to go ahead on the process of considering solutions to the Kashmir problem."

Musharraf reiterated that he would not allow the IAEA and the US to interrogate the disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist A Q Khan, directly though he assured the interviewer that Islamabad is doing the interviewing and passing on the information to America.