*WASHINGTON – Pakistan Navy Chief Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi has saidthat security assistance is not the primary consideration for Pakistan.*

“We want good relations with or without security assistance. We have enoughresources in Pakistan. We can work without US assistance,” the naval chiefsaid while speaking to the media in Washington.

The naval chief, who is in United States to attend an internationalsymposium, said during the media interaction: “Though the decision by US tosuspend security assistance to Pakistan was not a favourable one, it wasnot a life or death situation.”

Abbasi went on to say that India’s sea-based nuclear weapon initiative hadcompelled Pakistan to take steps for maintaining strategic balance in theregion.

“It’s an indigenous programme. I will leave at that,” he said. Abbasi alsorejected the myth that Pakistan was seeking strategic depth in Afghanistan.

To a question, the naval chief dismissed a journalist’s implication thatPakistan had developed the Babur-III missiles with China’s assistance.

“Afghanistan is a separate, sovereign country and we respect it as that.Whatever strategic depth we have is our own,” he said.

Replying to a question, he also welcomed US-Taliban talks in Qatar. “Thisis a good beginning that the US is engaged with the Taliban.”

He said the best hope for peace in Afghanistan was the quadrilateral talksthat Pakistan had arranged in Murree in 2016.