Nuclear arsenals were not operational during Kargil crisis: Pak

Rebutting media reports that Islamabad was considering a nuclear attack on India during the Kargil crisis, the Pakistan Foreign Office has denied that its nuclear arsenals were operational during the crisis.

Islamabad, Oct 30 : Rebutting media reports that Islamabad was considering a nuclear attack on India during the Kargil crisis, the Pakistan Foreign Office has denied that its nuclear arsenals were operational during the crisis.

FO spokesman Muhammad Sadiq told reporters that reports about India and Israel uniting to attack Pakistan's nuclear facilities in the 1980s had been in circulation for some time, "but we do not know about the veracity of such news so we cannot respond".

When his attention was drawn to the Indian Express story of October 29, which alleges that "for first time Pak Accepts Indian dossier on terror in J and K", the Spokesman stated that this story is baseless.

"The purview of talks under the Joint Anti Terrorism Mechanism does not cover Jammu and Kashmir, which is a disputed territory, and is being discussed under the Composite Dialogue process. The scope of discussions under the Mechanism relates to the terrorist incidents in India and Pakistan," a Foreign Ministry release said.

Commenting on Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, Sadiq said that new US sanctions on Iran would not affect the project.

Denying that any foreign country, including the US, was pressuring Pakistan to allow the return of former premier Nawaz Sharif, Sadiq said that Islamabad had not invited any international observers for the general elections.

He went on to say that any interested organisations were welcome to send formal requests to the government in this regard, the Daily Times reported.

ANI