Agence France-Presse,
Islamabad: Pakistan rejected the UN nuclear chief's criticism of its atomic weapons safety Wednesday, saying its arsenal would not fall into the hands of extremists and chastising his “irresponsible” remarks.
Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told a weekly press briefing that Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), should “be careful about his statements and ought to remain within his mandate”.
“Pakistan is a responsible nuclear weapons state,” he said.
“Our nuclear weapons are as secure as any other nuclear weapons state. We therefore believe statements expressing concern about their safety and security are unwarranted and irresponsible.”
The response followed ElBaradei's reported remarks to the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Tuesday.
He was quoted as saying he feared “chaos… or an extremist regime could take root in that country, which has 30 to 40 warheads”, and was “worried that nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of an extremist group in Pakistan or in Afghanistan”.
There has been worldwide concern over the security of Pakistan's atomic arsenal since President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in November, which was subsequently lifted.
Fears for the stability of the Islamic republic have grown since the December 27 assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
Sadiq accused the international media of launching a “propaganda campaign against Pakistan and its national institutions” following Bhutto's murder in a gun and suicide bomb attack at an election rally.
“We reject all baseless, ridiculous, absurd and sinister insinuations that speak venomously against Pakistan.
“The statements intend to see Pakistan destabilised. This campaign in certain sections of the international media is further upsetting the people of Pakistan, who are still in a state of shock.”
He said ElBaradei ignored the fact that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal was subject to multi-layered safeguards and controls.
“Our civilian nuclear programme is under IAEA safeguards and we have always fully complied with IAEA obligations,” he added.
White House hopeful Hillary Clinton said Saturday she would propose a joint US-British team to oversee the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if she was elected president.
“So far as we know right now, the nuclear technology is considered secure, but there isn't any guarantee, especially given the political turmoil going on inside Pakistan,” Clinton said during a Democratic debate.
“I would try to get Musharraf to share the security responsibility of the nuclear weapons with a delegation from the United States and, perhaps, Great Britain, so that there is some fail-safe.”
Chief Pakistani military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad bluntly rejected the idea, saying: “We do not require anybody's assistance. We are fully capable of doing it on our own.”
