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Pakistani Nukes Safe, Musharraf Says
Terrorists have no chance of commandeering Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and the country remains safe from takeover by political extremists, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 2). Musharraf told reporters that the heightened turmoil in Pakistan following the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto poses no threat to the nation’s nuclear weapons, the Press Trust of India reported. “There is no possibility of extremists coming into government in Pakistan and therefore taking over the (nuclear) assets … through the political or the democratic system,” he said, adding that no threat to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons exists “from terrorists and extremists.” “We guard our strategic and nuclear assets very zealously. We cannot accept any kind of threat to them at all,” Musharraf said, stating that Pakistan’s government maintains “excellent custodial control” over its nuclear stockpile that is “as good as any other nuclear country.” Musharraf also denied claims that al-Qaeda is gaining power in Pakistan, expanding its power from the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan into the Northwest Frontier Province and beyond. “Taliban is the main concern that we need to tackle more effectively,” he said (Press Trust of India/Times of India, Jan. 3).
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