The Hindu : Top priority for n-programme: Musharraf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 04, 2003

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International

Top priority for n-programme: Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD SEPT. 3. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, has dismissed talk of a freeze or rollback of the nuclear programme as "irrelevant, outdated and totally false" and said it would continue to receive top national priority.

Presiding over a meeting of the National Command Authority (in-charge of command and control of nuclear assets) at Rawalpindi, Gen. Musharraf said that "ensuring qualitative upgrades" in the nuclear programme would fortify national security.

It was not immediately clear as to what prompted Gen. Musharraf to convene the meeting. An official announcement said that the meeting, attended among others by the Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, in his capacity as Vice-Chairman of the NCA, reviewed the progress of the strategic programme. Incidentally, the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had presided over the Nuclear Command and Control Authority in New Delhi on Monday.

Today's meeting at Rawalpindi assumes significance in the wake of reports in a section of the American press about the nuclear co-operation between Pakistan and Iran. Last week, the Foreign Ministers of both the countries in a joint briefing denied the charge.

Gen. Musharraf condemned the "inspired and malicious" campaign in a section of the international media regarding Pakistan's alleged assistance to Iran.

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