"We are very concerned about the nuclear arsenals of both India and Pakistan and we would love see the world without nuclear weapons at all," Turner told reporters in Islamabad after visiting the quake-hit zones.

"The Indian sub-continent would be a lot safer without nuclear weapons," the founder of Cable News Network (CNN) television said, adding that he would urge all nuclear-armed states to get rid of their arsenals.

Turner, who created the UN Foundation in 1998 with a one-billion-dollar donation to support UN causes, said he would raise the nuclear issue in talks with Pakistani officials.

He said the United States and Russia needed to take the lead in nuclear disarmament because they possessed more than 95 percent of all nuclear weapons in the world.

But he added: "Any serious disarmament would have to include all nuclear powers."

Turner, along with members of the foundations board of directors, arrived in Pakistan this weekend for a three-day visit to areas ravaged by the October 8 quake, which killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan and 1,300 in India.

"The touring of earthquake-stricken areas was very saddening but on the other hands it was very inspirational too," Turner said, pledging his foundation's continued assistance.

The US philanthropist said he was touched by the "resilience, courage and strength of the Pakistani people", whom he saw clearing the wreckage of their destroyed homes.

The UN Foundation has so far contributed nearly one million dollars into the UN flash appeal for the South Asia earthquake, specifically earmarked for building temporary housing and strengthening aid coordination efforts.

Turner said the UN Foundation would also gear up its efforts to fight polio in Pakistan, saying: "We will eradicate it completely."

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.