By DPA
Berlin : German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed concern Saturday that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall into the wrong hands during the current crisis in the country.
There were no immediate grounds for concern, despite the unrest in the Muslim country, but the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto could “spread to become the worst crisis in Pakistan’s history”, Steinmeier said.
Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal should under no circumstances be allowed to fall into the hands of Islamist terrorists, Steinmeier told the Sunday edition of the mass-circulation Bild newspaper.
German parliamentarian Sebastian Edathy, who is travelling to Pakistan as an official observer of the proposed Jan 8 elections that have now become uncertain in the backlash of Benazir assassination, told DPA that the country was at a decisive moment.
Edathy warned that the stability of the entire region depended on Pakistan and he backed sticking to the Jan 8 polling date, as postponing it would leave the country without legitimate political leadership for even longer.