Gilani allays concern over nuke safety
By Ahmad Hassan
ISLAMABAD, May 16: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday allayed concerns over the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear assets and said that a disinformation campaign had been launched to undermine the country.
“An orchestrated campaign has lately been launched by Pakistan’s detractors expressing doubts about the security of (its) nuclear assets. The campaign has tried to link Pakistan’s internal situation with nuclear security in an attempt to discredit the country’s nuclear capability,” the prime minister said while addressing members of PPP’s Central Executive Committee and Federal Council here.
He said the government had taken serious notice of the campaign and wanted to put an end to speculations.
“Nuclear weapons are the cornerstone of Pakistan’s deterrence strategy and enjoy complete national consensus and support. We are determined to retain nuclear deterrence at all costs while ensuring fail-safe security of our nuclear assets. No amount of coercion — direct or indirect — will ever force Pakistan to compromise on its core security interest.”
Mr Gilani said Pakistan had developed and operationalised an immaculate nuclear weapons security regime which was multi-layered, had stringent access controls and incorporated modern technical solutions and rigorous human reliability programmes.
“It conforms to international best practices and has the capacity to meet all challenges. No foreign individual, entity or state has been provided, or will ever be provided access to our sensitive information.
“Insinuations to the contrary are plain mischievous and designed to create doubts in the minds of the people of Pakistan. I dismiss these with contempt,” the prime minister added.
“An orchestrated campaign has lately been launched by Pakistan’s detractors expressing doubts about the security of (its) nuclear assets. The campaign has tried to link Pakistan’s internal situation with nuclear security in an attempt to discredit the country’s nuclear capability,” the prime minister said while addressing members of PPP’s Central Executive Committee and Federal Council here.
He said the government had taken serious notice of the campaign and wanted to put an end to speculations.
“Nuclear weapons are the cornerstone of Pakistan’s deterrence strategy and enjoy complete national consensus and support. We are determined to retain nuclear deterrence at all costs while ensuring fail-safe security of our nuclear assets. No amount of coercion — direct or indirect — will ever force Pakistan to compromise on its core security interest.”
Mr Gilani said Pakistan had developed and operationalised an immaculate nuclear weapons security regime which was multi-layered, had stringent access controls and incorporated modern technical solutions and rigorous human reliability programmes.
“It conforms to international best practices and has the capacity to meet all challenges. No foreign individual, entity or state has been provided, or will ever be provided access to our sensitive information.
“Insinuations to the contrary are plain mischievous and designed to create doubts in the minds of the people of Pakistan. I dismiss these with contempt,” the prime minister added.
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