US should review its policies regarding Pak nukes: Pak Minister

Islamabad, Nov.21 (ANI): Pakistan Defence Production Minister Abdul Qayyum Khan Jatoi has urged the United States to review its policies concerning Pakistan's nuclear establishments.

In an interview with a Pakistani news agency, Jatoi said the continuous scrutiny of the safety of Pakistan's nuclear installations by the world media has damaged its image severely.

He said that the US is unnecessarily concerned about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear establishments, which is giving rise to anti-America sentiments in the country.

"Despite the fact that Pakistan and the US are allies for the past 60 years, mistrust over certain matters is uncalled for and animates anti-US sentiments inside Pakistan," The Nation quoted Jatoi, as saying.

Deploring the world media's outburst and distrust against Pakistan, he said the international community should have applauded Islamabad's anti-terror efforts instead of raising questions over its sincerity.

Jatoi highlighted that Pakistan needed to export defence products in order to meet its demands.

"However, financial crunch is the main hurdle in the achieving self reliance in defence equipment. We are focusing on increasing our capacity on defence-related equipment despite the fact that we are short of funds," he added.

Commenting on Pakistan's alliance with China in producing defence products such as the JF-17 combat aircrafts, he said both the countries would continue to work together and develop various state-of-the-art products in future also.

"We are going to launch a JF-17 thunder fighter jet on Monday which has been produced with indigenous resources. We are also working on developing Frigates with Chinese cooperation and this project was launched at Karachi Shipyard in April last," he said. (ANI)