SINGAPORE (PTI): Former interim Prime Minister Moeen Qureshi has warned that Pakistan would maintain its nuclear option unless the “threat from India is eliminated.”
He also claimed that Islamabad “cannot remain insensitive” to the Kashmir problem as “its inhabitants are culturally and ethnically close to Pakistan.” In an interview published here Nov.11 Qureshi, who had a short stint as head of the Pakistan government prior to the general election, said Pakistan was prepared to work towards a regime but only wanted the issue to be treated evenhandedly?
In his view basically if there were to be serious discussions to resolve the nuclear problem regional tensions needed to be reduced.
“For this an alleviation of the situation in Kashmir is a prerequisite,”
He also blamed the United States for making Pakistan more insecure in terms of India by “seriously weakening its conventional military strength.”
Pakistan thus feels strongly that the nuclear option gives it a deterrent capability which its conventional forces do not, he claimed.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 19, 1993
