- ‘Indian policies will not help in promoting strategic restraint, stability in South Asia’
- Pakistan urges UNHCR to give $400 to each Afghan returnee, says to facilitate Afghan people
- Zakaria says Pakistan desires to maintain peaceful relations with neighbouring countries
Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria on Thursday termed the change in India’s nuclear arms usage policy as highly irresponsible and dangerous, saying it will not help in promoting strategic restraint and stability in a nuclearised South Asia.
“Pakistan has long maintained that the ambiguous no-first-use declaration is not verifiable and hence nothing more than an empty political statement,” he said during his weekly media briefing here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He said that such ambiguous declaration cannot substitute for verifiable arms control and restraint measures. “Pakistan has to consider capabilities and not intentions, which can change anytime,” he said.
Earlier, former defence secretary Naeem Khalid Lodhi said that Pakistan possesses second strike capability against India. The second strike provides a military with the capability to hit back at an enemy in a situation where its land-based nuclear arsenal had been neutralised.
Lodhi, a retired lieutenant general of the Pakistan Army, said that the nuclear deterrence had been augmented by the second strike capability, efficient delivery systems and effective command and control system. In January 2017, Pakistan attained credible second strike capability after successfully test-firing nuclear capable submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM) Babur-III.
“The successful attainment of a second strike capability by Pakistan represents a major scientific milestone; it is a manifestation of the strategy of measured response to nuclear strategies and postures being adopted in Pakistan’s neighbourhood,” the military said after the test.
The 450km range Babur-III, a sea-based variant of Babur-II, a ground-launched missile, was test-fired from a mobile platform in the Indian Ocean to hit a land-based target at an undisclosed location. The land-attack mode Babur-III is said to be capable of delivering various types of payloads.
The successful test, analysts say, would help stabilise the deterrence that had been strained because of India’s sea-based missiles K-4, K-15, Dhanush and Brahmos, which has got land, air and sea versions.
Addressing the media, the Foreign Office spokesperson urged the United Nation’s High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to raise the amount to 400 dollars for each Afghan returnee for their smooth settlement in Afghanistan. Earlier, the UN refugee agency paid 400 dollars per person to the repatriating refugee family, but now this financial assistance has been reduced to 200 dollars per person.
The Afghan refugees also requested UNHCR to review decision of reducing the cash support from 400 to 200 dollars. He said that Pakistan attaches great importance to facilitate the movement of Afghan people to Pakistan for genuine purposes. Regarding Pak-Afghan border, he said that fencing was done on this side of the border for the safety and security of people, living on both sides of the border.
He said that Pakistan desires to maintain peaceful relations with the neighbouring countries. To a question, he said that hundreds of innocent children and defenseless civilians were being mercilessly killed and deliberately targeted by the Indian forces in the Indian-held Kashmir (IHK).
“India makes ceasefire violation on the Line of Control (LoC) in order to divert the attention of the international community from deteriorating situation of human rights violations in the disputed state,” he remarked. Highlighting the role of media in projection of human rights violation, he said the international community has realised the attitude of India, which poses threats to regional stability.
He said a delegation of British parliamentarians was visiting Pakistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir in connection with Kashmir issue and to gather information on human rights violations in the other side of the state, perpetrated by the Indian forces. Members of civil society and human rights activists have been undertaking activities to sensitise people on the grave human rights situation in the disputed territory, he added.
Regarding mediations on matters of concern between Pakistan and India especially at the backdrop of human rights violation in the Kashmiri state, the spokesperson said that they have already welcomed such mediations. “India usually reacts negatively towards such offers.” He also said that the Islamic Military Alliance for combating terrorism would bring the Muslim countries together against the menace of terrorism.
“The alliance is not against any country,” he added. Earlier, he said that the visits of foreign delegations to Pakistan were manifestation of fast-growing bilateral relations of the country with international community. Last week, the delegations from China, United Kingdom, Italy, Malaysia and Russia visited Pakistan for developing bilateral relations in the field of business, trade, defense, energy and culture.
