BRUSSELS, Jan 21: President Pervez Muaharraf has said that Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programme is completely safe and even a nuclear attack cannot affect these assets.

He was addressing overseas Pakistanis here at the start of his eight-day visit to Europe. Some 200 or so opposition activists held a protest demonstration nearby just before his arrival.

The president said some forces were purposefully questioning Pakistan’s nuclear programme but let it be known to all that Islamabad was aware of such intentions. Pakistan’s nuclear programme is impregnable and its forces have full capability to defend the missile and nuclear assets.

He said the country’s economic situation was based on strong fundamentals and terrorists and saboteurs could not derail its journey of economic progress and prosperity. Critics, he added, were giving a wrong impression of his outstanding performance on all fronts over the past 7-8 years.

The President asked overseas Pakistanis to strictly follow the laws and of the country where they lived to financially support their families and add to Pakistan’s economic strengthen by sending remittances. He said when he took over in 1999 Pakistan was on the verge of collapse economically. Its foreign exchange reserves were only $ 500 million and the economy was heading for a crash-landing.

Musharraf said the policy-makers and implementing agencies did a great job during the last 7-8 years to make Pakistan economically robust with highest-ever foreign exchange reserves of $15.5 billion, fast-growing annual revenue, 100 per cent increase in per capita income, many times increase in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and 6-7 per cent growth rate every year. He said Pakistan has Rs520 billion funds for 2007-08, for development programme against Rs80 to 90 billion in 1998-1999.

He said the government would construct the Kalabagh dam and many other water storage and conservation projects to meet growing energy demands in the coming years. He said the flour crisis was not an outcome of the wrong policy of the Shaukat Aziz government. It was created by some elements who tried to destabilise Pakistan after PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

He said the critics did not give a true picture of Pakistan when they appeared in the media and the people should question their judgment.