Pakistan on Monday said a media report about the United States secretly providing aid to the country to guard its nuclear weapons painted a "distorted and exaggerated" picture of Islamabad's efforts to ensure safety of its atomic arsenal.
"As a responsible nuclear weapon state, Pakistan has always attached great significance to the security of its strategic assets. These assets are completely safe and secure under multi-layered security and command and control structures that are fully indigenous," the Foreign Office said in statement.
A report in the New York Times said the Bush administration over the past six years has spent almost $100 million on a highly classified programme to help Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf secure his country's nuclear weapons.
The report gave a "distorted and exaggerated picture" of Islamabad's efforts to learn from the "best practices of other countries" on nuclear safety and export controls, the Foreign Office said.
Noting that the "best possible procedures" are needed in the realm of nuclear security, Pakistan said it had been engaged with the US in "mutually agreeable cooperation which is essentially in the nature of rudimentary training and ideas to strength security and surveillance".
"Pakistan's red lines have always been clear which ensure that our control and safety procedures remain fully protected and secure," it said.