Pakistan will not sign NPT: Foreign Office

Pakistan would not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as its atomic capability is essential to maintain a strategic balance of power in the region, said Foreign Office Spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam.

Islamabad, Aug 28 : Pakistan would not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as its atomic capability is essential to maintain a strategic balance of power in the region, said Foreign Office Spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam.

"Nuclear deterrence capability is an integral part of Pakistan's security and, therefore, it can't be compromised upon," Aslam told reporters at a weekly briefing.

Aslam said that Islamabad had repeatedly asked New Delhi to sign the NPT so that Pakistan would follow the suit, but India always gave a cold shoulder to such suggestions, the Daily Times reported.

Reiterating that Pakistan would maintain minimum credible deterrence, she said this was the reason for conducting nuclear tests in 1998 after India did it.

Endorsing the views of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei that the NPT regime should be modified to accommodate ground realties, Aslam proposed some sort of informal interaction between the nuclear powers.

She condemned the bomb blasts in India's Hyderabad, and termed it as an act of terrorism.

On the Saichen issue, Aslam said Pakistan wanted an early solution of the dispute, as it was not only a long outstanding issue between the two countries, but also had become an environmental hazard.

"Pakistan has made certain concrete proposals which can lead to the solution of the issue provided a political will was there," she said, adding that Pakistan presumed that India was also serious in solving the issue.

ANI