Islamabad, Mar 07: As Pakistani Army took formal possession of nuclear-capable ballistic missile Shaheen-I, president Pervez Musharraf ruled out an arms race with India but said Islamabad would not compromise its "minimum defence needs." While Pakistan "seeks peace in South Asia, it will not compromise its minimum defence needs," Musharraf, who heads the Army's strategic force command, said yesterday while receiving the missile for the command from the National Defence Complex (NDC). He said Pakistan did not have global ambitions but was "compelled to go nuclear due to belligerence in its neighbourhood". This, however, did not imply an open-ended arms race specially in the strategic field. "We would seek qualitative refinements while consolidating minimum deterrence," he said. Stressing the need for consolidating minimum deterrence as a cornerstone of Pakistan's security policy, Musharraf said Islamabad neither threatened anyone nor would accept threats from anyone.
He said Pakistan was committed to international non-proliferation norms while rejecting all "insinuations and speculative stories" about its cooperation with North Korea.
"We take our international responsibilities and obligations very seriously and none should doubt our water tight command and control mechanisms," Musharraf said.