ISLAMABAD, Sept 3: Pakistan on Monday dismissed all international concerns about the security of its nuclear weapons and reiterated that the highest-level of institutionalised protection was accorded to the country’s strategic assets.
Addressing a weekly news briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam emphatically rejected what she termed “irresponsible speculations” about the safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. “Pakistan’s strategic assets are completely safe and secure and the highest level of institutionalised protection is accorded to them,” she remarked.
Reiterating that Pakistan’s strategic assets were under strong multi-layered decision-making, organisational, administrative and command and control structures, she declared: “Our command and control system and export controls conform to the most stringent international standards.”
The spokesperson also rejected as “baseless and malicious” the allegations made in a book titled “Big threat to world peace” about Pakistan’s nuclear programme and the Dr A. Q. Khan case, calling it “a rehash of oft-repeated assertions” prompted by dubious motives.
Commenting on the book, Ms Aslam said: “It shows that certain people still find it difficult to accept that Pakistan has acquired nuclear deterrence in the interest of its security and for peace and stability in the region. These people refuse to recognise that Pakistan was not the first to introduce nuclear weapons in South Asia and that the strategic balance was disturbed by the Indian nuclear test in 1974.”
She added: “The outlandish theories woven around the A. Q. Khan case only bring into sharper relief the visceral prejudice of the authors and their selected sources against Pakistan. In their hostility, the authors have gone beyond the issue of proliferation to malign Pakistan and its leadership.”
Continuing on the subject, Ms Aslam noted: “Such people need to know that Pakistan is a progressive, moderate and vibrant society with expanding economy and is an anchor of stability in the region.”
The spokesperson said as to their reference to the threat of terrorism, the authors ought to know that in addressing this contemporary challenge, Pakistan was playing an active role. “In this regard, we have the same concerns and objectives as the rest of the world,” she asserted.
Ms Aslam disagreed with the notion that there was a global impression that Pakistan was a nascent nuclear weapon state and its nuclear weapon arsenal was vulnerable to attack which led to various allegations against Pakistan.
Her comment on the former CIA chief’s claim that Dr A. Q. Khan was “at least as dangerous as Osama Bin Laden” was: “If an individual is being condemned for contributing to Pakistan’s nuclear deterrence, then there are many people in many countries who are guilty of this crime. There are people who see nuclear weapons as a threat to human society and civilisation.
“If we agree with this hypothesis, if we accept this point of view, then Pakistan has not committed the original sin.”
Asked, if given the serious nature of allegations levelled against President Gen Pervez Musharraf in the book “Deception: Pakistan, the United States and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons Pakistan nuclear programme” (that claims President Musharraf arrested Dr A. Q. Khan after having struck a deal with the US Deputy Secretary of State in 2004) the government was considering taking legal action against the authors of the book, the spokesperson said: “We want to expose the absurdity, the prejudice and the distortions in this book.”
