Pak ready to phase out nuclear arms, If India does the same

Lalit K Jha

Washington, May 22 (PTI) Stating that Pakistan's
nuclear weapon is a "deterrent" against India, the country's
top diplomat to the US Saturday expressed willingness to enter
into an agreement with New Delhi to phase out all atomic arms
possessed by the two countries.

Appearing on the CNN to make a public appeal to the
Americans to donate USD five each through cell phone for the
refugees of Swat Valley, Pakistan Ambassador to the US Hussein
Haqqani insisted that the nuclear weapons of his country are
safe and there should be no concern about their security.

"Everybody in the US Government who knows anything
about nuclear weapons knows that Pakistan has a very secure
nuclear programme. It's a very limited nuclear programme to
maintain deterrence vis-a-vis our neighbor," Haqqani told the
CNN in an interview.

"At the same time, Pakistan is willing to engage with
our neighbour for a comprehensive settlement in which the
nuclear weapons can be phased out by both countries," He said.

"Pakistan's nuclear weapons are safe and Pakistan is
not going to expand nuclear weapons capability to a point when
it becomes a threat to any country in the world, including our
neighbours," he said urging the US media not to divert
attention from the real issue by raising the question of
safety of nuclear weapons of Pakistan.


Haqqani said the United States should not be concerned
about the nuclear weapons of Pakistan as this is not a threat
to the US. "I don't think Pakistan's nuclear weapons are a
threat to the United States. I think the threat to the United
States right now comes from terrorists that might be in
Afghanistan or in parts of Pakistan. And Pakistan is doing a
great job fighting those terrorists right now," he said.


The Pak Ambassador said his country is unlikely to
give specific details of its nuclear weapons to the US;
despite the fact that it has assured top US leaders that its
atomic weapons are secure and there is no need to be
concerned about it. "I don't think any country knows or tells
the location of all its nuclear weapons to any country in the
world," he said.


Haqqani went ahead to link this sharing of information
with that of India. "The Soviet Union never did it with the
United States until an -- after comprehensive negotiations
between the US and Soviet Union started. So whenever that
starts between Pakistan and its eastern neighbour, we will
move in that direction," Haqqani said. PTI