Pakistan's president assured rival India he would not be the first to use atomic weapons and proposed the idea of a nuclear-free South Asia, media reports said Sunday.
Pakistan's nuclear doctrine does not contain a clause saying the country will not use its weapons first in any conflict, unlike India. It was not clear if President Asif Ali Zardari's comments represented a formal change in policy.
Still, they were another sign of his warmness toward India, which has been traditionally regarded as Pakistan's No. 1 enemy.
"I don't feel threatened by India and India should not feel threatened by us," he was quoted as saying in a video conference question-and-answer session Saturday at an event organized by The Hindustan Times, a major Indian newspaper.
The remarks were carried in Indian and Pakistani newspapers. Zardari's media assistant said a transcript of the remarks was not immediately available. He was not able to speak about their accuracy as reported.
Predominantly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan have fought three wars since they were created in the bloody partition of the Indian subcontinent at independence from Britain in 1947.
The stakes got much higher after both tested nuclear weapons in 1998.
"We will most certainly not use it (nuclear weapons) first, I don't agree ... to nuclear weapons. I hope we never get to that position," Zardari reportedly said.
Zardari also proposed the idea of a nuclear-free South Asia, saying he could persuade lawmakers to support such a plan, the reports said.
"I can get around my Parliament to this view, but can you get around the Indian Parliament to this view?" he reportedly asked, giving no more details of the proposal.
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