The Hindu : 'Benazir comments irresponsible '

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 11, 2002

International

International

'Benazir comments irresponsible '

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD April 10. Pakistan today strongly refuted the remarks attributed to the President, Pervez Musharraf, by the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, on the use of nuclear weapons and emphasised that the President had clearly said that "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''.

He was responding to the comments made by Ms. Bhutto about the contents of a recent interview of the President in the German magazine Der Spiegel. The spokesman maintained that Ms. 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 irresponsible attitude to sensitive national security issues'', he said.

The President has been repeatedly 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 added.

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