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Pakistan clarifies threat to use nukes

Pakistan on Wednesday night clarified its recent remarks by President Pervez Musharraf on the use of nuclear weapons saying they would be used only as a last resort if all of 'Pakistan were threatened to disappear from the map'.

Criticising former premier Benazir Bhutto for taking exception to Musharraf's statement, an official spokesman clarified that the president had said 'for us, the use of nuclear weapons is possible only as a last resort, if all of Pakistan were threatened to disappear from the map'.

Musharraf's comments relating to use of nuclear weapons were made in an interview to German magazine Der Spiegel.

The spokesman said that Bhutto's comments, based on Indian media reports, were not surprising as she is in the habit of taking her cue from sources hostile to Pakistan.

The fact that she did not even bother to refer to the original text of the interview published in the German magazine and hastened to issue a statement says much about her attitude to sensitive national security issues, he said.

He said that Musharraf has been emphasising both to the Pakistani and the international media as well as to the international leadership the fact that Pakistan was a responsible state whose nuclear capabilities were of deterrent nature only.

He said that Musharraf has also been emphasising that Pakistan acquired nuclear capability only in response to the Indian nuclear acquisitions and also in view of the fact that Pakistan is vastly outgunned and outnumbered in terms of conventional weapons and numerical strength in relation to the Indian armed forces.

The spokesman quoted from the German magazine to clarify.

"Pakistan acts responsibly and I am so optimistic and self-confident as to believe that we can also defend ourselves conventionally, even though the Indians in their megalomania are buying the most modern weapons everywhere. Only if all of Pakistan were threatened to disappear from the map, the pressure of our people to take this option would be too great. Then it will be valid... the atom bomb," he quoted

The spokesman also accused Benazir Bhutto of making many somersaults on the important national issues and dismissed her assertions that Musharraf had taken a strong position on nuclear issue in view of the forthcoming referendum.

He said the president's principled stand on the nuclear issue has been consistent with Pakistan's declared policy on the subject and it was regrettable that a person who has served as the prime minister of the country twice should have such a short memory on crucial and sensitive national security issues.

"If her comments and statements were directed at the Western audience, she has failed miserably as they are now well aware of her antics and her somersaults," he said.

He added, "If it was intended to please the Indians, she may have achieved some success but only at the cost of Pakistan's strategic interests. But coming as it does from Benazir Bhutto, Pakistanis are not surprised."

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