JOIN USA batch of 450 personnel from a new force raised to protect Pakistan's nuclear arsenal passed out of a training facility on Thursday, with authorities saying that a comprehensive plan has been put in place to guard the country's strategic assets.
The soldiers of the security force of the Strategic Plans Division, which controls the nuclear arsenal, passed out from the Frontier Force Regimental Centre at Abbotabad. Lt Gen Tariq Nadeem Gilani, head of the Army Strategic Force Command, was the chief guest at the ceremony. A statement issued by the military said another batch of 450 personnel had passed out of the Baloch Regimental Centre yesterday. The SPD has “undertaken a comprehensive plan to significantly augment the capacity of its force to ensure foolproof security of strategic assets,” the statement said.
“Nuclear security is a special focus area and efforts to inculcate a nuclear security culture are deeply rooted in the nuclear establishment,” the statement said. Earlier this year, the Pakistani military said it had raised a 20,000-strong force to provide foolproof security to its nuclear weapons and strategic assets. The force was raised in the backdrop of concerns about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal being targeted by the US to prevent it from falling into the hands of extremists.