Pakistan's strategic assets are completely safe and secure and the highest level of institutionalized protection is accorded to them, a Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said on Saturday.
They were under strong multi-layered decision making, organizational administrative and command and control structures since 1998, Aslam said while dismissing the concerns raised by certain inspired and tendentious reports in the western media about the safety of Pakistan's strategic assets.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Aslam said Pakistan's command and control structures were not controlled by individual personalities but were institutionalized and multi-layered to ensure safety and security at multiple levels.
Aslam said that consistent with its obligations as a nuclear weapons state, Pakistan formally instituted an elaborate nuclear command and control mechanism in February 2000 that comprised National Command Authority (NCA), Strategic Plan Division (SPD) and Strategic Forces Command.
The NCA was responsible for policy formulation, employment and development of strategic systems as well as for the security of the strategic assets, Aslam said, adding that this apex decision making body was under the chairmanship of the President with Prime Minister as its Vice Chairman.
Aslam said it had two committees, namely the Employment Control Committee, and the Development Control Committee, functioning separately for policy formulation, employment and development aspects respectively. The SPD is the secretariat for the NCA, Aslam added.
She said the Foreign Minister was the deputy Chairman of the Employment Control Committee whose politico-military composition included as members of the Minister for Defense, Minister for Interior, Minister for Finance, Chairman JCSC, COAS/VCOAS, CNS, CAS and DG SPD as its secretary.
The SPD had an elaborate security division which included a counter intelligence network to safeguard the activities of strategic organizations, Aslam said, and added that it also had in-place a dedicated multi-layered security apparatus to safeguard strategic assets. Personnel reliability was also a high priority area to which necessary resources were allocated, Aslam added.
Aslam said that those reports, therefore, had no basis and were apparently prompted by questionable motives, adding that Pakistan's commitment to nuclear non-proliferation was strong and abiding. Aslam said this commitment will be maintained despite the evident bias against Pakistan's deterrent capability and legitimate interest in development and access to civil nuclear energy for economic development.
Some western media recently voiced their concern about the fate of Pakistan's nuclear weapons if President General Pervez Musharraf could not get reelected.
