Pakistan's foreign minister said on Saturday he had summoned the US ambassador after President Joe Biden questioned the safety of Pakistan's nuclear programme.In a speech on Thursday, Biden said Pakistan is &maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world& as it has &nuclear weapons without any cohesion&.Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said he was surprised by the comments.As far as the question of the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear assets are concerned, we meet all & each and every & international standard in accordance with the IAEA,& he said at a press conference on Saturday.A transcript of Biden's speech was published by the White House on its website.Bhutto-Zardari said he didn''t think the decision to summon the US ambassador would negatively affect relations with the United States, and said officials could address any specific concerns Washington had on the nuclear programme.The United States regularly meets with Pakistani officials,& a US State Department spokesperson in Washington told Reuters in a statement, adding: &As standard practice, we do not comment on the specifics of private diplomatic conversations.Ties between Islamabad and Washington, once close allies, have just started to warm after some years of frosty relations, mostly due to concerns about Pakistan's alleged support of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan.
Pakistan denies this support.The foreign minister said worries about Pakistan's nuclear programme were not raised on his recent trip to Washington, where he held extensive meetings, including at the State Department, Reuters reported.However, in a statement issued by Pakistan, Islamabad stated that Pakistan's disappointment and concern was conveyed to the US envoy and that the remarks were not based on reality or facts.It was made clear that Pakistan was a responsible nuclear state and its impeccable stewardship of the nuclear program and adherence to global standards and international best practices was well acknowledged, including by the IAEA,& the statement read.The real threat to international peace and security was posed by violation of global norms by some states, repeated nuclear security incidents without any accountability, and arms race between leading nuclear weapon states and introduction of new security constructs that disturb regional balance.It was essential to maintain the positive trajectory of Pakistan-US relations and the close cooperation between the two sides to build regional and global peace,& Pakistan's statement read.Pakistan is one of nine states to possess nuclear weapons and began development of nuclear weapons in 1972 in response to the loss of East Pakistan in 1971's Bangladesh Liberation War.Following India's surprise nuclear test, codenamed Smiling Buddha in 1974, the first confirmed nuclear test by a nation outside the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council, the goal to develop nuclear weapons received considerable impetus.In May 1998, a few weeks after India's second nuclear test (Operation Shakti), Pakistan detonated five nuclear devices in the Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai district, in Balochistan.The last test of Pakistan was conducted at the sandy Kharan Desert under the codename Chagai-II, also in Balochistan, also in May 1998.
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