'US trying to capture Pak nuclear assets'

Islamabad, Feb 15: The Bush Administration is trying to take the custody of the nuclear arsenals of Pakistan, caretaker Law Minister Afzal Haider has said.

"By putting fingers on the security of Pakistan's nuclear stockpile, US wants to destabilise the region that is replete with natural resources. America's aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq is part of the same strategy," he told a gathering on the occasion of the 29th anniversary of Iranian revolution. Haider said that the 1979 revolution of Iran had bestowed courage to that country to stand against the biggest "Satan (America) of the time."

Haider appealed to the Pakistanis to deeply analyse the Iranian revolution to learn a lesson from it, "as it could help us eradicating our woes." Former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Akram Zakki said that the US had no guts to attack Iran.

"US attacked Iraq under pretext of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) despite the fact that it had got solid reports that the country has no such kinds of weapons while on the other hand it wants to resolve the nuclear issue with North Korea through talks," The Nation quoted Zakki, as saying.

He went on to say that the at last the US would have to negotiate with Iran to settle the issue.

ANI