Pakistan pushes to be admitted into fold of international nuclear states

Washington, June 25 (ANI): Reiterating that its nuclear programme meets all international safety standards, Pakistan has once again called for its inclusion in the group of international nuclear states.

In a letter, published in the latest issue of the Foreign Affairs magazine, Press Minister at the Pakistan Embassy here, Imran Gardezi, stressed that his country's nuclear programme was based on minimum deterrence and self-defence.

Gardezi said that Islamabad had initiated and developed its own nuke programme in response to clear regional asymmetry in both conventional and nuclear arms, adding that it was now a source of regional stability.

"The nuclear programme is in the interest of regional and global peace and Pakistan should be admitted into the fold of nuclear states," The Daily Times quoted Gardezi, as saying.

He underlined that Pakistan's nuclear assets are impervious to any threat, be it internal or external, and fears of them being taken over by extremists were ill founded.

"Over the past decade, the government has instituted several advanced security mechanisms from tightened physical safety to technical controls of the nuclear weapons themselves. Extremists can not possibly come to possess a nuclear weapon nor could non-state actors acquire such a device or the requisite delivery system," Gardezi said. (ANI)