Saying that the India-United States civilian nuclear deal could lead to an increase in fissile material available with India, Pakistan said it will take measures to ensure the credibility of its deterrence.
"We are apprehensive that selective availability of civilian nuclear technology would enable the increase in quantities of fissile material for nuclear warheads in the region," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told the North Atlantic Council in Brussels on Tuesday.
"In such a situation, we would need to take measures to ensure the credibility of our deterrence," he said, in an apparent reference to the Indo-US nuclear deal while speaking on 'Pakistan: Anchor For Regional Peace and Stability'.
He, however, said that India and Pakistan are proceeding with the composite dialogue process, which has led to reduction of tensions and resulted in several Confidence Building Measures.
"Time has come to move forward from dispute management to dispute resolution," Aziz said while insisting that the Kashmir issue remained at the heart of Pakistan-India relations and a lasting solution must be acceptable to Islamabad, New Delhi and the people of Kashmir.
He said President Pervez Musharraf has suggested "several bold ideas" as basis for discussions and to think out of the box, it is essential for all parties to show courage, determination and flexibility to resolve this issue.
"We are hopeful that the improved atmosphere in bilateral relations will contribute towards removing the trust deficit between the two countries and facilitate the early resolution of all outstanding issues so that both of us can focus on meeting the needs of our peoples," he said.
Pakistan was also concerned about the induction of new weapons systems into the region such as anti-ballistic missiles, Aziz was quoted as saying by state run APP news agency.
Apparently referring to the US and the EU's concerns over proliferation of nuclear technology by disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan, he said Pakistan has put in place effective and fail-safe command and control measures for the safety and security of its strategic assets as well as to prevent any leakage of nuclear material or technology.
"We have also fully cooperated with the international non-proliferation regime to break the A Q Khan network. We believe that the same standards must be applied and observed universally. At the same time, we oppose any discriminatory or selective availability of civilian nuclear cooperation," he said.
"Our defence posture is guided by the doctrine of minimum credible deterrence. We do not wish to enter into a conventional or strategic arms race with any country.
"Pakistan was compelled to develop nuclear weapons capability in order to guarantee its security following the Indian nuclear test in 1974," he said.
"Again, we were obliged by the Indian nuclear tests in 1998 to respond by conducting our own nuclear tests in order to establish credible deterrence," Aziz said, adding, "since then we have offered a Strategic Restraint Regime to India to prevent an arms race in strategic and conventional weapons."
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