ISLAMABAD: Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) Gen Nadeem Raza on Monday ruled out any compromise on the country’s nuclear programme and reminded about the limits on debate around nuclear issues.

“National security is indivisible and … under no circumstances shall Pakistan allow a compromise on its nuclear programme,” Gen Raza, who is also deputy chairman of the National Command Authority — the top body overseeing the nuclear and missile programme — was quoted in a statement as having said at a seminar at the National University of Sciences and Technology on ‘Regional Environment and Imperatives of Security’.

“The NCA, with all its political and military leadership, stands firm for the strategic programme,” he further said.

Only excerpts of Gen Raza’s speech that emphasised the significance attached to the nuclear programme were shared through the statement issued by the event organisers; he recalled the wide support it enjoys in the country; reiterated Pakis­tan’s role as a responsible nuclear country; and cautioned against airing misgivings about it.

The statement was, in a way, the first official reaction from the military to former prime minister Imran Khan’s interview aired by a private television channel on June 1 in which he had worried that the aggravating economic situation can eventually lead to a compromise on the nuclear programme with potential implications for country’s integrity.

Responses like the one made by Gen Raza were in the past usually given to foreign opinions about the nuclear programme. It was, therefore, one of those rare occasions when discussion within the country had to be responded at this level.

Mr Khan was not the first leader to have expressed these views. Some other political leaders too had expressed similar apprehensions in the past, but it was the first time that a former prime minister, who had left the office quite recently, stated this.

In fact there have been longstanding fears in Pakistan that US had designs to denuclearise Pakistan. These anxieties were the result of continuous pressure from US and other western countries that the nuclear programme faced since its inception.

The objectives of the pressure kept changing as the programme progressed. While it was initially aimed at stopping Pakistan from acquiring nuclear weapons, more lately it was about preventing the development of long-range missiles and tactical weapons.

Pakistan always resisted this pressure and maintained that it would do all to maintain credible deterrence against India, which was being backed by the West in developing its conventional and strategic capabilities.

Gen Raza while underscoring the significance of the nuclear programme said it was “the guarantor of deterrence and defence of the motherland”.

He also reminded about the “across the board support” of all political parties and the people of the country.

The chairman called for avoiding “unnecessary and unfounded views” about the nuclear programme in public discussions. This, he maintained, was the norm in nuclear-capable countries.

“When necessary, NCA is the right forum to issue specific responses or views,” he asserted.

Pakistan, he said, was a confident and responsible nuclear power that pursued the policy of full spectrum deterrence within the precincts of credible minimum deterrence.

“Our national security and safety architecture meets all national and international obligations and caters for all kinds of scenarios,” he further said.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2022