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Pak ready now for no-aggression pact, says minister

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

"We are ready to sign a no-aggression pact with India if the need arises," says Senator Mushahid Hussain, Pakistan's information minister.

Speaking to Rediff On The NeT over the telephone from his Islamabad home, Hussain said, "After the nuclear testing, India will have to consider Pakistan at par," adding, "Indian leaders must avoid making irresponsible statements against Pakistan."

Coming down heavily on Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, he said, "Mr Vajpayee's statement that he has a big bomb and is ready to use it was highly irresponsible. Also, the statement of Indian Home Minister L K Advani that Pakistan should consider the geo-strategic situation after the Indian government went for the nuclear tests was totally uncalled for."

"Our tests will check the Indian leaders who have been making irresponsible statements against Pakistan ever since they tested the nuclear bombs on May 11 and May 13," he added.

However, the minister was hopeful that the sanctions would not be of a serious nature, considering that no harsh measures were taken against the Indian government after its nuclear tests. He was hopeful that the developed countries would accept that Pakistan had no other option that to test, following regular threats by the Indian government after it went nuclear.

He quoted Pakistan Prime Minister's Nawaz Sharief's words, "I am sure the Western countries will realise that the South Asia region will be only peaceful because Pakistan too has nuclear capabilities.

"We are also ready to discuss the NPT and the CTBT, considering the fact that a new situation has emerged in the Indian subcontinent after we too tested nuclear bombs," the minister said.

Asked if did not he see an emerging nuclear threat to the world, he said, "The threat is from the Indian side and not the Pakistani side, since they were the one who went for nuclear explosions first, not us."

He was confident that the nuclear tests would not affect the popularity of the Nawaz Sharief government since the mood in Pakistan was upbeat.

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