IN the backdrop of highly venomous and malicious propaganda against the country’s nuclear capability, Pakistan, on Monday, came out with a strong dismissal and condemnation of the social media disinformation on this account declaring unequivocally that its nuclear deterrent is solely India-specific and defensive — neither intended for use by any third country nor to be drawn into external conflicts like the Iran-Israel standoff.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is known for his clarity of thoughts, minced no words in clarifying Pakistan’s nuclear policy following a wave of disinformation after three AI-generated reports falsely claimed that Pakistan had threatened a nuclear response against Israel, if Iran were attacked and that the US President has urged Pakistan to stay away.
In a statement in the Senate, Dar emphasized “Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state and our nuclear and missile programme is solely for national defence and security purposes.
Pakistan has not issued any statement regarding a nuclear strike on Israel.
” Similar statement was also made by Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif through his ‘X’ account, declaring “Our nuclear capability is for the benefit of our people and defence of our country against hostile designs of our enemies.”
Throughout the history of its nuclear programme, Pakistan proved itself as a responsible nuclear power and never issued any nuclear threat or used nuclear capability for blackmailing, not even against India, which has aggressive designs against sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
Pakistan is also on record having floated a number of proposals to make South Asia free of nuclear weapons, which could not be pursued further due to lack of reciprocity from India.
It is a reality that Pakistan was forced to go nuclear after India started hurling threats following Pokhran tests.
However, despite all this, Pakistan’s legitimate nuclear capability remained the target of venomous propaganda by vested interests, especially some Western and Indian lobbies and intensity of the campaign increased after India faced embarrassing defeat at the hands of Pakistani armed forces in the recent standoff.
Indian media and intelligence agencies are known for their total reliance on fabricated accounts of events as highlighted by circulation of fake videos of war scenes, which later proved to be their fantasies.
Similar attempts are being made to scandalize Pakistan’s role and conduct during the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel with the sole objective of portraying it as an irresponsible state and creating misunderstanding between Pakistan and some of its friendly countries.
All the three AI generated videos were surely handiwork of anti-Pakistan circles and Indian media went to the extreme to lend credibility to the false claims made in the videos.
The height of the propaganda can be judged by the fact that in one of the videos, President Donald Trump was shown responding to a statement of Pakistan Defence Minister, which is not conceivable in diplomatic traditions.
Similarly, as pointed out by Dar, a widely circulated interview of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, purported to be recent, was in fact from 2011and the contents too were edited to suit requirements of the vested interests.
There is no doubt that Pakistan has expressed complete solidarity with Iran in its ongoing conflict with Israel and Islamabad is extending diplomatic support as confirmed by convening of the UN Security Council session on the issue where Tehran thanked four nations including Pakistan for their steadfast support.
However, those trying to add a nuclear angle to this solidarity, in fact, want to create confusion about Pakistan’s nuclear capability and spoil its relations with Gulf countries, the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
While appreciating Deputy PM Dar for putting the record straight, we hope Pakistan will not lower its guards as far as maintenance of minimum credible deterrence is concerned as the latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) India has expanded its nuclear arsenal and is engaged in modernization efforts as well as improving the delivery systems.
