Security for nuclear facilities tightened: Pak

Pakistan on Saturday said it has increased security for its nuclear arsenal and installations over the past six months...

Pakistan on Saturday said it has increased security for its nuclear arsenal and installations over the past six months though there are no specific threats of plots or conspiracies to take over the atomic weapons.

The country8217;s institutionalised command and control systems includes 10,000 soldiers who are guarding storage and production facilities for nuclear weapons, said Lt Gen retired Khalid Kidwai, the chief of the Strategic Plans Division SPD, which is responsible for security and development of the arsenal.

Asked if the Government had increased the security for the weapons in the past six months, Kidwai said: 8220;the state of alertness has gone up, most certainly.8221;

At the same time, he made it clear that the SPD8217;s intelligence had uncovered 8220;no plots or conspiracies8221; to gain control of the nuclear weapons or to make a 8220;dirty bomb8221; containing radioactive material.

In a rare briefing for the international media at Chaklala garrison near Rawalpindi this morning, Kidwai said: 8220;There is no conceivable scenario, political or violent, in which Pakistan will fall to the extremist of the al-Qaeda or Taliban type.8221;

The briefing came a day after Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani dismissed concerns about the safety of the nuclear weapons 8220;as unrealistic and based on a lack of understanding of Pakistan8217;s command and control mechanisms8221;. Kidwai said that the SPD and military had planned for 8220;all contingencies8221;, including militant threats and any attempt by foreign forces to secure Pakistan8217;s nuclear arsenal.

Referring to Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, against whom the army is conducting a major operation in South Waziristan, Kidwai said the militant leader 8220;has a capability and we are prepared for it8221;.

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Kidwai emphasised that atomic bombs were 8220;weapons of the last resort8221; and could hypothetically be used in hostilities with a country like India in the event of 8220;space losses, severe force destruction or economic losses8221;.