PAKISTAN declared on Monday that it is a responsible nuclear weapon state with an elaborate command-and-control structure under full civilian control.
Reacting sharply to a mischievous statement of the Indian External Affairs Ministry on the nuclear issue, the Foreign Office pointed out that India’s sabre rattling and war mongering whenever confronted, invite unfounded allegations bereft of rationality.
Pakistan’s nuclear programme has always remained a sore in the eyes of its enemies and rightly so as the nuclear deterrent has become a guarantee of peace and security as demonstrated, once again, during recent war. However, Pakistan has made it clear, time and again, that its nuclear programme was defensive in nature and India-specific. The way India distorted the remarks (attributed to have been made by Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir during his interaction with Pakistani community in Florida) and raised hue and cry is yet another evidence of India going berserk over regional and global developments that have helped raised Pakistan’s international image and pushed New Delhi to isolation. India risked its relationship with the United States when President Donald Trump hosted the Field Marshal at White House and appears to be shocked at the second invitation (to visit the United States) in less than two months. The FO reminded India that its narrative of an alleged “nuclear blackmail’ is a misleading and self-serving construct. Pakistan remains firmly opposed to the use or threat of use of force and instead it sincerely wants to settle all disputes through dialogue. It is, in fact, India, which is allergic to serious and meaningful talks aimed at finding last solutions to the disputes that threaten peace and security of the region.
