Prime Minister Gilani’s strong exposition of Pakistan’s case about the security and safety of its nuclear assets should silence the Western propagandists, mostly American columnists, writers and think-tanks and, at times, ‘unnamed’ officials, who are scared of a Muslim state possessing these weapons; and thus, they never let an opportunity of maligning Islamabad and raising fears about these assets falling into the hands of militants. Chairing a meeting of the National Command Authority at Islamabad on Thursday, he said, “Such baseless and certainly motivated campaign against Pakistan will neither deter us from proceeding ahead sure-footed with our strategic programme nor succeed in undermining our national will.” Criticising the media speculation about the possibility of sabotage and the existence of contingency plans to take over Pakistan’s nuclear assets, he emphatically declared that any such nefarious designs would be thwarted by the armed forces with the full support of the people of Pakistan.
There is no point in feeling scared or making mischievous plans to deprive Islamabad of these cherished possessions. As a responsible country, Pakistan has given the assurance that its nuclear arsenal is fully secure, it has no aggressive designs and it adheres to the principle of minimum deterrence. Recalling this oft-repeated assurance, Mr Gilani strongly and rightly rejected “the policies of discrimination and selectivity”, which, he opined, are against Pakistan’s national interests as well as do not do any service to the cause of non-proliferation. The Prime Minister also referred to the power shortfall in the country and said that Pakistan was moving towards building more reactors, as part of the nuclear power programme 2050. – Nation
