WASHINGTON, March 8: US lawmakers have reacted with concern to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's claim that she personally brought missile blueprints from North Korea while she was prime minister.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sam Brown back, a Republican from Kansas, said Ms Bhutto's disclosure pointed the need for a stricter regime of international controls governing the spread of nuclear and missile technology.
"These reports underscore the profound implications for global security if and when rogue regimes like North Korea sell such blueprints or even nuclear devices to terrorist groups," Senator Brown back told the UPI.
"What we've done with Afghanistan and Iraq is crucial and an important step," Mr Brown back continued, labelling Ms Bhutto's disclosure as evidence of the need for closer cooperation between the United States and "all interested parties" around the world to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction and missile technologies.
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California and a member of the House International Relations Committee, labelled the statement a demonstration of "both the arrogance and insanity of Pakistani leaders who wasted money pursuing rocket and nuclear technology while their own people go hungry and are denied adequate healthcare and education".
"The more serious question is where did North Korea obtain the technology that was passed on to Pakistan?" "The real villain," he said, "is China, which continues to play its normal, despicable role."
Ms Bhutto told a news conference in Washington that Pakistan purchased the designs for the short- and medium-range missiles for cash and that no transfer of nuclear technology was involved. But she said that after her ouster, Pakistani representatives might have engineered the exchange of nuclear technology for missiles in the period after international sanctions were placed on Pakistan following its 1998 nuclear tests. She said Dr A. Q. Khan indirectly admitted to the exchange in his televised confession.