Pakistan dubs report of nuke vulnerability ‘pure fiction’

Foreign office spokesperson says such reports are ‘baseless and motivated’.

ISLAMABAD:

Islamabad squarely dismissed allegations regarding the vulnerability of its nuclear arsenal, saying such reports are ‘pure fiction, baseless and motivated.’

An article published recently in an American journal, The Atlantic, said Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are vulnerable to theft by militants because the country has begun moving them around to hide them from US spy agencies.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Tehmina Janjua dismissed the contents of the article on Sunday and said “it is part of a deliberate propaganda campaign meant to mislead opinion.”

Surfacing of such campaigns is not something new for Islamabad, Janjua said. “It is orchestrated by quarters that are inimical to Pakistan.”

“No one should underestimate Pakistan’s will and capability to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests,” she added.

The article labelled Islamabad as “an ally from hell” and said that much of the world is anxious about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons because it is “an unstable and violent country located at the epicenter of global jihadism, and … has been the foremost supplier of nuclear technology to such rogue states as Iran and North Korea”.

A senior official in the Strategic Plans Divisions (SPD), the department charged with safeguarding Pakistan’s atomic weapons, said the national nuclear establishment is “very strong.”

Secrecy of the nuclear arsenal is ensured at every level, the official said while speaking to The Express Tribune.

“There is also a Strategic Export Control Division at Pakistan’s Foreign Office and an Oversight Board for this division is functioning,” the official said.

“Yet, all these efforts are sidelines by the international community in their passion for labelling Pakistan a dangerous nuclear state,” he added.

The article concluded: “The United States must, for its own security, keep watch over Pakistan’s nuclear program—and that’s more easily done if we remain engaged with the Pakistani government.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th,  2011.