Pakistan Angry at Suggestion the US Helps Guard Nukes

Pakistan 'doesn't need help' to guard nukes: general

Mon Nov 9, 209, 11:20 am ET

ISLAMABAD (AFP) –

Pakistan's military chief on Monday said that his country did not need any foreign help in guarding its nuclear facilities because they were already well protected.

Islamabad on Sunday angrily rejected a media report in the United States that raised fears of a militant seizure of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and suggested that the US had a hand in protecting the arsenal.

Pakistan's Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Tariq Majid in a statement Monday called the report "absurd and plain mischievous."

"We have operationalised a very effective nuclear security regime which incorporates very stringent custodial and access controls," Majid said.

"As overall custodian of the development of our strategic programme, I reiterate in very unambiguous terms that there is absolutely no question of sharing or allowing any foreign individual, entity or a state, any access to sensitive information about our nuclear assets."

In the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote that US officials had negotiated pacts with Pakistan to provide security for the nuclear arsenal in extreme circumstances.

Majid clarified that Pakistan's engagement with other countries directly or through the International Atomic Energy Agency was meant only to learn more about best practices for security of such assets.

The general said that these engagements were based on "two clearly spelt-out red lines -- non intrusiveness and our right to pick and choose."

He added: "Also, our security apparatus has the capacity and is fully geared to meet all conceivable challenges, therefore we do not need to negotiate with any other country to physically augment our security forces, which in any case, we believe, are more capable than their forces."

Larry Schwartz, a spokesman at the US embassy in Islamabad, told AFP Sunday that "the United States has no intention to seize Pakistani nuclear weapons or material.

"Pakistan is a key ally in our common effort to fight violent extremists and foster regional security."

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