Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Ehsanul Haq has said that Pakistan's strategic deterrence is fully operational and has contributed in stabilising the South Asian security landscape. He said that the nation's nuclear capability, resting in the strategic forces, was based on the concept of minimum deterrence and was a cornerstone of Pakistan's security policy.

General Ehsan, who is the Deputy Chairman of the National Command Authority Development Control Committee, was given an extensive briefing during a visit to the Army's Strategic Force Command.

He reiterated Pakistan's resolve to develop its strategic forces in line with its defence needs and expressed satisfaction with the pace of development, training standards and command and control mechanism evolved in a short span of five years.

General Ehsan said Pakistan followed a very strict policy of non-proliferation and would continue to extend co-operation to the international community without in any way compromising on its own nuclear programme.

He dismissed the recent speculation in this regard as baseless and uninformed.

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2005