By NNN-APP
Brussels : President Pervez Musharraf has said that Pakistan’s ballistic missiles are highly secure and even the nuclear attack could not affect them.
“Nuclear weapons have been dispersed at various locations. Pakistan’s custodial control of the assets is highly protective and no common access is possible,” President Musharraf said while addressing a large gathering of Pakistani community in the jam-packed hall of a local hotel Sunday night.
President Musharraf ruled out any possibility of rigging in the upcoming general elections.
He hoped that true representative government will come into power as a result of February 18 elections and thus further strengthen the democratic institutions in the country.
He said foolproof arrangements have been made to put the country on the path to true democracy.
President Musharraf spoke at length on the socio-economic progress achieved during the last seven years and said unprecedented economic growth has brought great improvement in the living standards of common people.
The president said the elimination of terrorism is a major goal of the nation and “we will succeed in it.”
He expressed his satisfaction that Pakistan Army has made major headway by successfully targeting terrorist hideouts in South and North Waziristan.
The president while speaking on the misperception in the West about Pakistan’s nuclear assets said these are in safe hands. He said there was no question of nuclear assets falling into wrong hands.
President Musharraf also referred to various economic indicators and said a revolutionary progress had been attained especially in communications and commercial and various other sectors.
He said that the poverty and unemployment have declined over the years and “we need to sustain the robust economic growth with unity and concerted efforts.”
He regretted that some political elements are misleading the nation on various issues by distorting hard and solid facts for promoting their own vested interests.
He expressed his grief on the tragic assassination of former prime minister and PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto and said it was one of the biggest tragedies in political history of the country.
He, however, lamented that some political elements are trying to exploit it just for their own political purposes. They destroyed public and private property worth billions of rupees in the riots following the tragic death of Benazir Bhutto in some parts of the country especially in Sindh.
President Musharraf expressed the hope that findings of the Scotland Yard investigations will help determine the cause of death of Benazir Bhutto and thus expose the elements who were behind this act.
He said former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry exploited his dismissal which was done on the ground of corruption and tried to politicise the issue to destabilise the country.
Deliberating upon arrangements made by the Election Commission he said there was no question of setting up ghost polling stations since all of these have already been notified for the forthcoming elections.
Earlier, the President was given a standing ovation when he entered the venue of the ceremony with Pakistanis applauding, clapping and raising slogans ‘Long Live Musharraf’.