ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday described as "pure fiction" a US media
report about possible American plans to secure the country’s nuclear
arsenal in the event of any extremist threat, saying no one should
"underestimate" its capability to defend its national interests.
A
statement issued by Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua said the
article "The Ally From Hell" in The Atlantic journal was "baseless and
motivated".
She dismissed the article as "pure fiction, baseless and motivated".
"It
is part of a deliberate propaganda campaign meant to mislead opinion.
The surfacing of such campaigns is not something new. It is orchestrated
by quarters that are inimical to Pakistan," she said.
Janjua
said: "No one should underestimate Pakistan’s will and capability to
defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests."
The
article had accused Pakistan of lying to the US administration in the
campaign against terrorists and failing to detect the presence of al
Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
It said that army chief Gen Ashfaq
Parvez Kayani had asked officials of the Strategic Plans Division to
take additional steps to secure Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal in the wake
of the US raid that killed bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad
on May 2. Online
