Pakistan yesterday offered to give up its arsenal of nuclear weapons if rival India did the same (see GSN, May 5).

“If India is ready to denuclearize, we would be very happy to denuclearize,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said.  “We can talk about that, but it will have to be mutual,” he said (CNN.com, May 5).

A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said his country’s nuclear weapons program has always been linked to India’s (see GSN, Jan. 30).  “Our position has been that we were forced into the situation because of Indian nuclear ambitions,” he said.

Pakistan also announced yesterday that it had received a “positive response” from India after inviting Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Islamabad (Rory McCarthy, London Guardian, May 6).

While India and Pakistan have made some progress in improving relations, more should be done to reduce tensions between them, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said today, one day before a scheduled trip to the region.

“I think we have got a lot of work to do to continue to lower the temperatures for two great countries, India and Pakistan, to be able to live in peace and stability with each other,” Armitage said in an interview with the BBC.

Armitage praised Pakistan’s offer yesterday to give up its nuclear weapons if India were to do the same, calling it a “good gesture.” 

“That would be a great sign of enormous progress ... but I think we have to keep our appetites under control,” he said.

Armitage and Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca are expected to arrive in Islamabad tomorrow, according to Agence France-Presse.  They are then scheduled to meet with senior Pakistani officials Thursday, U.S. and Pakistani officials said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, May 6).

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