Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch has called the US’s concerns about Pakistan’s missile capabilities and delivery systems “unfortunate,” adding that the allegations raised by a US official are baseless, lacking rationality, and disregarding historical context.
As per a Pak Observer report on Sunday, while responding to a US senior official at a think tank who made such comments, Baloch said that these are groundless and unsubstantiated. She further warned that such hearsay, especially with no evidence, would ruin bilateral ties.
“The recent wave of accusations from the US against a major non-NATO ally is not helping the overall relationship,” she said, adding, “Pakistan never has bad feelings toward the US; it is unfortunate that Pakistan is being put at par with those countries that are considered the rivals to the US.”
For according to Baloch, concerns with reference to Pakistan’s missile capabilities are emphasized when missiles of far wider capacities are kept under silence by that eastern neighbor, suggesting the possible role of external countries in aggravating an already fragile regional security environment.
She asserted again that Pakistan’s strategic capabilities were only used in safeguard of sanitary rights and maintaining peace and stability in South Asia. “Pakistan has no option to retract the developing deterrent capabilities required for credible deterrence against evolving threats,” she added.
Since then, starting in 2012, these concerns have been raised by US officials. Then, in succession, the Pakistani governments tried to remove and smoothen such misplaced apprehensions, according to Baloch. “Such strategic programs and capacities are intended only for deterrence against clear existential threats from neighbors and shouldn’t be construed as a threat to any other country. ‘Any irrational assumption of hostile intent from Pakistan, including by the US, is confusing and illogical,’ she concluded.”
