Pakistan's finance minister Thursday
said that his country will never roll back its nuclear programme
despite financial hardship and threat of mounting external debt.
Ishaq Dar was briefing the Senate, the upper house of parliament, on the country's economy.
The Express Tribune reported that Dar dismissed reports about Pakistan bartering away its nuclear arsenal.
"We did not start this (nuclear) programme to roll
it back. This is a programme of our security, and it is a national
responsibility to protect it. All political parties of Pakistan share
the ownership of our nuclear programme," he said.
"Even if our debts swell to USD 100 billion or USD 100 trillion, we will not roll back our nuclear programme," he said.
He referred to a 2008 article in Wall Street
Journal headlined 'Let's Buy Pakistan's Nukes' in which the author asked
Western donors to agree on a USD 100 billion economic package in
exchange for eliminating Pakistan's nuclear stockpile, currently said to
be the world's fastest growing.
He mentioned another article which suggested the
ever-ballooning debt may lead Pakistan to compromise on its national
security assets.
Dar's forceful statement came after US Secretary
of State John Kerry pressed Pakistan at this week's strategic dialogue
in Washington to reduce its nuclear arsenal.
Dar did not mention Kerry's statement but Senate
Chairman Raza Rabbani asked Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs
Sartaj Aziz to brief the house on the issue.
Aziz had urged the US not to contribute to "strategic imbalance in South Asia" by aiding India.
PTI
