ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: The National Command Authority (NCA) said on Friday that Pakistan was fully capable of defending nuclear assets and interests and thwarting any ‘misadventure’.

A meeting of the authority, chaired by President Pervez Musharraf, took note of a hostile campaign in a section of international media about Pakistan’s nuclear assets and reiterated that the security was foolproof. The NCA warned against creating an ‘irresponsible alarm’.

Top military officials have been rejecting the propaganda aimed against the safety of the country’s nuclear assets.

The strongest statement yet came from Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Tariq Majid at the launching of the Hatf-VII cruise missile.

Referring to the suggestions in the western media that Pakistan’s nuclear assets should either be neutralised or taken away to a “safer place” to prevent them from falling into “wrong hands”, he said that the armed forces were aware of such threats and were capable of handling them. “There is a very strong security system in place, which can ward off all threats, internal as well as external,” he said.

The NCA meeting was attended by caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro, General Tariq Majid, services chiefs and other senior military officers and scientists.

The NCA also reviewed development of various projects related to the strategic capability and expressed satisfaction over the pace of development, said a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations.

The meeting also approved a number of proposals for strengthening the country’s deterrence capability.

The meeting came a day after the promulgation of an ordinance setting up the NCA that has been working since Feb 2, 2000. The promulgation of the ordinance was necessitated by the separation of the offices of the president and the army chief.