LAHORE, Sept 3: The foreign office has submitted to the Lahore High Court that Pakistan has still not taken any decision with regard to signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) because the government has resolved to maintain its nuclear capability as a credible deterrence and an integral part of the country's defence policy.

The foreign office statement was received by the high court in reply to a writ petition which advocate MD Tahir filed in Jan 2000 with the request that the federal government be restrained from ratifying and signing the CTBT.

The petitioner made the foreign office and the ministry of defence respondents. Only the foreign office has so far sent its parawise comments on the petition. The foreign office denied a charge in the petition that the United States was putting pressure on Islamabad to sign the CTBT. It said the US itself was not a party to the CTBT as yet.

Washington, along with 43 other countries, was yet to ratify the international treaty and unless the US and other countries signed it, the CTBT could not be enforced as an instrument for a global non-discriminatory commitment against nuclear explosions, the foreign office added.

The foreign office submitted that the constitution and other laws allowed the federal government to enter into international treaties with the approval of the cabinet.

It refuted the assertion of the petitioner that Islamabad could not ratify a world treaty which apparently came in conflict with he national interest. The report stated that the government had not signed the CTBT with the national interest in sight.

Any future decision in this regard would also be in the best national interest, the report submitted. The foreign office repeatedly mentioned the petitioner's lack of understanding of the CTBT issue which, it said, was not aimed at seeking to disarm Pakistan or any other country.

The petitioner had sought a referendum on the issue. The petition was taken up by the Lahore High Court on Friday and the proceedings were adjourned with a date in office because the deputy attorney-general, Danishwar Malik, did not turn up. The Punjab government was represented by Additional Advocate-General Mohammad Akbar Tarar.