THE leadership of Pakistan Army has expressed complete confidence in the country’s robust nuclear command and control structure and security arrangements related to the country’s strategic assets.
A statement issued after the 252nd Corps Commanders’ Conference (CCC) said as a responsible nuclear weapon state, Pakistan has taken all measures necessary to strengthen its nuclear security regime, at par with international best practices.
The rejoinder comes in response to the highly controversial remarks made by President Joe Biden during a Democratic congressional campaign committee reception last Thursday, which amounted to raising doubts about security and stability of Pakistan and its nuclear programme.
It was because of the strong and prompt reaction by the leadership of the incumbent coalition Government as well as the Foreign Office that the US has since retracted the statement and the State Department clarified on Tuesday that Washington sought a strong partnership with Pakistan to counter global and regional terrorism and also has confidence in its ability to defend its nuclear assets.
However, as the Pakistan Army is directly responsible for the safety and security of the country’s nuclear assets, a response from the military leadership was due to set the record straight.
It is universally acknowledged that Pakistan has an elaborate command and control system, even much better than some other nuclear weapons states but some countries, their intelligence agencies and some segments of the hostile Western and India media keep on churning out venomous propaganda to discredit Pakistan’s legitimate nuclear programme, which poses no threat to anyone and is directed at self-defence, which is right of every sovereign nation.
In fact, as pointed out earlier by the PM Office, Pakistan had proven to be a “most responsible nuclear state” over the past decades whose nuclear programme was managed through a “technically sound and foolproof command and control system”.
We have been pointing out in these columns, time and again, that the inability of the highly resourceful Western countries and their well-equipped intelligence agencies to pinpoint Pakistan’s nuclear warheads is itself an undeniable proof of their foolproof security and safety.
People of Pakistan legitimately expect that those claiming to be their friends would refrain from churning out malicious statements aimed at tarnishing the image of the country just because of Islamabad’s reluctance to toe Western lines on each and every regional and global issue.
