Pakistan rules out nuclear freeze

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says the country's nuclear weapons programme is being given top national priority in order to consolidate the need for minimum deterrence.

Pakistan refuses to agree to a 'no-first use' policy with India

He was speaking at a meeting of the National Command Authority, which oversees Pakistan's strategic armed forces.

General Musharraf described reports of a possible freeze or rollback of the country's nuclear programme as "irrelevant, outdated and totally false".

On Monday Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee presided over the inaugural meeting of his country's Nuclear Command authority.

India and Pakistan both declared themselves to be nuclear-capable in 1998.

Last year there were fears the two sides could go to war following an attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi.

Non-proliferation commitment

Officials in Islamabad described Wednesday's meeting of the National Command Authority as routine, called to review the progress of the country's nuclear weapons programme.

Apart from President Musharraf, Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali, Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri and the top military commanders participated in the discussion.

They were given a detailed experts' briefing.

An official statement quoted President Musharraf as saying that even though Pakistan was opposed to an arms race in the region, it would continue to ensure the consolidation of its minimum deterrence needs.

He said the nuclear programme was here to stay, and was being given top national priority.

President Musharraf described recent reports in some of US newspapers about Pakistan's support for Iran's nuclear programme as being part of a "malicious campaign".

He said Pakistan has a strong non-proliferation record, and was committed to universal non-proliferation goals.

According to the official statement, the National Command Authority reviewed the progress of Pakistan's strategic programme and expressed complete satisfaction with the operational readiness of Pakistan's strategic forces and the pace of development work.

It gave approval to a number of recommendations put forward by its secretariat - the Strategic Plans Division, the statement said.