Musharraf says nuclear programme 'is here to stay': Hatf-3 missile system handed over to Army

Indigenously produced Hataf-3 ballistic missile system was handed over to Pakistan Army's Strategic Force Command on Saturday, with President Pervez Musharraf asserting that Pakistan's nuclear programme "is here to stay".
The solid-fuel Ghaznavi ballistic missile system, which has a range of 290 kilometres, was successfully test-fired in 2002 and 2003 with excellent results. It now forms an integral component of Pakistan's operational deterrence system, which also includes 'Shaheen' series and 'Ghauri' intermediate-range missiles.
Speaking on the occasion the president strongly reiterated that "Pakistan's nuclear programme is here to stay and, being vital national security interest, would never be compromised."
Far from any misplaced notion of a rollback, Pakistan would continue to develop its capability in line with its minimum deterrence needs, he said.
He said that in the past four years a large number of missile tests of different systems as well as their handing over to the strategic missile groups had amply demonstrated the government's resolve to consolidate and strengthen nuclear deterrence.
General Musharraf urged the nation to come out of the mindset of 1980s "when our nuclear programme was in its infancy and could be threatened with the rollback. Today, Pakistan, by the grace of Allah Almighty, is an acknowledged and established nuclear power."
The President underscored the need to further enhance security by drawing appropriate lessons from the unfortunate events of past proliferation. He noted that since the establishment of institutionalised Command and Control System in the last four years adequate checks and balances have been put in place to prevent recurrence of such lapses.
"Additional restructuring is being undertaken to further modernise the security system around the strategic assets," the President added.
The President said that he fully shared international concerns on proliferation, and reiterated Pakistan's resolve to ensure that there would "never be" any type of proliferation from its soil.
"Pakistan will continue to co-operate with the IAEA in its efforts to uproot international proliferation networks," he added.
President Musharraf said that Pakistan's state policy was very clear, in that its nuclear capability "is for the sole purpose of deterrence" against aggression and for the defence of its sovereignty.
"Pakistan as a state never has and never will proliferate its hard-earned nuclear technology to any other country."
He said the unfortunate happenings from 1989 to 1999 were individual actions based on personal greed and gross misuse of autonomy and authority. Nevertheless, this aberration, too, was checked when institutional arrangements were put in place in 2000, he said, assuring the world that the network had been uprooted from Pakistan.
President Pervez Musharraf paid glowing tributes to the scientists, engineers and technicians who have made the nation proud by their dedicated and professional hard work.
They forged a strong indigenous capability, he added.
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Services Chiefs and senior military officers and scientists attended the ceremony.