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| Pakistan terms fears on N-security preposterous |
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Monday, November 09, 2009
By Mariana Baabar
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Sunday that it was “simply preposterous” that it would allow any country direct or indirect access to its nuclear arsenal, which were safe under “multi-layered custodial controls”.
In a hard-hitting response to Seymour Hersh’s latest article “Defending the Arsenal-In an unstable Pakistan, can nuclear warheads be kept safe?” in which he questioned the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, a spokesman for the Foreign Office termed the report “totally baseless and utterly misleading”.
Hersh in his report said that though US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after her visit to Pakistan recently, had found no reason to question the status of the safety of nuclear arsenal, “but the Taliban overrunning Islamabad is not the only, or even the greatest, concern. The principal fear is mutiny — that extremists inside the Pakistani military might stage a coup, take control of some nuclear assets, or even divert a warhead.”
Responding to that, the spokesman said: “Pakistan does not require any foreign assistance in this regard. Nor will Pakistan, as a sovereign state, ever allow any country to have a direct or indirect access to its nuclear and strategic facilities. Any suggestion to this effect is simply preposterous. Our second-to-none professional armed forces are fully capable of taking care of our nuclear arsenal.”
He said in a statement that Hersh’s assertions made in the article were utterly misleading and totally baseless. “The author of the article yet again betrays his well-known anti-Pakistan bias by making several false and highly irresponsible claims by quoting anonymous and unverifiable sources. Thus, the article is nothing more than a concoction to tarnish the image of Pakistan and create misgivings among its people,” he said.
He said the strategic assets of Pakistan were completely safe and secure. The multi-layered custodial controls, which had been developed indigenously, were as foolproof and effective as in any other nuclear weapons state, he added. Pakistan also rubbished another point in the article that the US and Pakistan held talks on the issue of safety of the nuclear arsenal.
“To set the record straight, no talks have ever taken place with the US officials on the issue of the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. It needs to be emphasised that contrary to what Mr Hersh claimed, the US has repeatedly expressed its full confidence in our custodial controls. Most recently, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton herself denied any US concerns in this regard,” said the spokesman.
He said Hersh was known to write sensational stories premised in far-fetched and imaginary scenarios. His latest article was no exception and was, therefore, strongly rejected, the spokesman added.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
