Pakistan nukes under control - Musharraf
Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are under “total custodial controls,”
President Pervez Musharraf told Fox News radio Tuesday, moving to calm
concerns over the arms amid major political turmoil in his country.
“They are under total custodial controls,” Musharraf told the
network, citing security measures in place since 2000, according to a
transcript of the interview.
“We created a strategic planning division and we have a national
command authority which is overall organization institution into
development and employment of strategic assets,” he said.
Bhutto rules out power-sharing with Musharraf
Meanwhile, Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said Tuesday
that she cannot now envisage sharing power with President Pervez
Musharraf after he declared a state of emergency.
“There are no circumstances in which I could see myself serving with
General Musharraf,” she told BBC radio by telephone from Lahore, where
she is under a seven-day detention order and hopes to defy a ban on her
attending a protest.
“I have tried for more than a year. I did my best. I worked out a
roadmap for democracy. But he went back on that and imposed martial
law.” “I think General Musharraf should leave. He’s lost the confidence
of the people of Pakistan,” she added.
US diplomat may be on collision course
Senior US diplomat John Negroponte may be headed on a collision
course with President Pervez Musharraf’s government when he travels to
Islamabad this week to urge an end to emergency rule.
Negroponte will meet senior Pakistani officials when he arrives at
the end of the week to press Musharraf to lift the state of emergency
imposed on November 3, State Department spokesman Tom Casey told
reporters Tuesday.
Negroponte, deputy to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, will be
the highest-ranking US official to visit Islamabad since the turmoil
erupted. The visit comes amid friction between Washington and its key
ally in the war on terror.
In an interview with The New York Times, Musharraf rejected calls by
Rice to rescind the emergency measures.
Washington, Wednesday, AFP |
