Pak's nuclear arsenal safe, says US

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated:

Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure and has not fallen into wrong hands, but the ultimate responsiblity for that lies with Islamabad, the US has said.

WASHINGTON: Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure and has not fallen into wrong hands, but the ultimate responsiblity for that lies with Islamabad, the US has said.
   
"... ultimately, the major responsibility for that falls with the Pakistani government. They have made public comments to the effect that the arsenal is secure, that they have taken a number of different steps to ensure that," State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"We ourselves see no indication to indicate to the contrary. It is secure. We obviously have an interest in seeing that it is secure, however," McCormack added saying that it is up to Islamabad to talk about its arsenal.

".... to the extent that the Pakistani government wants to talk about efforts to secure their arsenal, I'll let them talk about it."
   
The Spokesman was asked to comment on the steps that Washington has done to secure the nuclear weapons as also a readout on the Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte's talks with President Pervez Musharraf.
   
"No on both," McCormack said.