Pakistan will take steps for credibility of its nuclear deterrence

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today said it will take steps to maintain the credibility of its nuclear deterrence following India's decision to acquire a Russian nuclear attack submarine on a 10-year lease.

"We are looking at these developments very closely. Rest assured, there will be no compromise in terms of maintaining the credibility of our deterrence," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said during a weekly news briefing.

Basit was responding to a question about Pakistan's response to India's acquisition of an Akula-II class submarine on lease from Russia and the construction of another indigenous nuclear submarine.

At the same time, Basit said Pakistan wants its dialogue process with India to be "uninterrupted and result-oriented, leading to resolution of all issues, especially the Jammu and Kashmir issue".

The Kashmir issue should be settled in line with the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and UN resolutions, he said.

"It is essential to keep the Thimphu spirit alive," Basit said in a reference to a meeting between the Prime Ministers of the two countries on the sidelines of a SAARC summit held in the Bhutanese capital.

The two premiers had then decided to take steps to normalise ties that were snapped following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks carried out by the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Basit said Indian and Pakistani officials had discussed several proposals during a meeting of the Joint Working Group on nuclear and conventional confidence-building measures earlier this week.