"In the course of our contacts we have received from the Pakistani leadership clear assurances that they will take every measure to stabilize the situation in the country. As for control over nuclear weapons, assurances have been given that the international community should not feel worried," Nurgaliyev told journalists in Moscow on Wednesday [20 May] in a reply to a question from Interfax.

At the same time he stressed: "We cannot but feel concern over the situation in Pakistan given what is happening in the Swat valley where the Pakistani armed forces are conducting an operation to put an end to Taleban influence."

Nurgaliyev said that the SCO (which unites Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) maintains close relations with Pakistan, which has an observer status at the SCO. He went on to add that the president of Pakistan was expected to attend the upcoming SCO summit in Yekaterinburg.

"We expect that the discussion with Pakistan of efforts to fight terrorism and extremism will be continued (at the summit). We see an interest from the Pakistani side in the work of the SCO’s regional antiterrorist body," Nurgaliyev said.