Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is "safe" and not in danger of falling into the hands of Islamic fundamentalist groups, India's defence minister George Fernandes said here Tuesday.
"Politics apart, I must give them (Pakistanis) credit that they are responsible people and will not allow people to walk away with nuclear weapons," Fernandes told a seminar on terrorism.
"Their nuclear assets are in safe hands. Those concerned with Pakistan's nuclear programme are responsible people."
Fernandes' comments came in the wake of reports in all major Indian newspapers Tuesday that an elite US military unit was training with Israeli commandoes to take out Pakistan's nuclear weapons in case President Pervez Musharraf was overthrown in a coup.
The reports quoting a story published by the New Yorker magazine said the US plan was aimed at ensuring that Islamabad's nuclear arsenal did not fall into the hands of renegades.
Musharraf has risked the ire of radical Islamic groups in Pakistan by allowing the use of its airspace to US warplanes bombing targets in Afghanistan and the use of several airbases for emergency landings and possible search and rescue missions -- NEW DELHI, (AFP)
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