Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has rubbished talks of its nuclear arsenal falling in the hands of the extremists, saying “Nobody should tell us what to do. They are very secure”.

“They (nuclear weapons) are very secure. We will ask if we need assistance. Nobody should tell us what to do. And I’d ask anyone who says such things, do you know how our strategic assets are handled, stored and developed — do you know it?” President Musharraf told the Newsweek magazine in an interview.

Pakistan’s border region has emerged as a frontline in the war on terror after Islamabad allied itself with the Washington following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US.

Scores of suicide attacks have taken place in Pakistan in recent months, including the killing of Benazir Bhutto on December 27.

With increasing turmoil, international experts and politicians in the US have raised doubts about the security of the Pakistani nuclear weapons. The issue has also become a major topic of debate among the presidential candidates.

President Musharraf dismissed Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton’s recent suggestion that the US and Britain should help Pakistan secure its nuclear weapons.

“Does she know how secure [the weapons] are and what we are doing to keep them so? They are very secure. We will ask if we need assistance,” the Pakistani leader told the magazine.

With regard to suggestions by some experts that the weapons must be disbursed for them to have “survivability”, President Musharraf said: “We are from the military, we understand how to handle things, whether they need to be disbursed or concentrated.”