KARACHI, Aug 10: President Pervez Musharraf has said that Pakistan follows a strategy of defensive deterrence and does not have offensive designs against anyone. He was speaking at the launching ceremony of the indigenously-built Agosta 90-B submarine, now called ‘Hamza’.

The president pointed out that when we talk of a defensive deterrence, we mean an ‘offensive defensive deterrence’. This submarine has given an offensive punch to the navy.

He said that the government has been following a policy of indigenisation and self-reliance and this project is a manifestation of this strategy.

He said that we have achieved great success in this regard in all the three services.

Elaborating, he mentioned that in the army the main battle tank — Al-Khalid and the support tank Al-Zarrar — are the physical manifestations of the highest quality of indigenised products besides many other projects.

He said in the Pakistan Air Force, JF-17, the latest success which will be flying in the skies of Pakistan on March 23rd, is also the physical manifestation of the indigenisation of the Air Force.

As far as the Pakistan Navy is concerned, the president added, F22P frigates which we are going to develop ourselves and the submarine Agosta which we have developed in collaboration with France, all go to prove the technical expertise which Pakistan itself has developed.

President Musharraf criticised ‘drawing-room critics and pseudo-intellectuals’ who talk against the development of the armed forces and the expenditure spent on them and also talk of the reduction of the armed forces. “I want to tell them that security and peace is only guaranteed through force and strength, never through weakness.”—APP