No illegal channels to upgrade N-arms programme: Pakistan FO
Pakistan Times Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday rejected the media reports that it has developed new illegal channels to upgrade its nuclear weapons programme.

Foreign Office Spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani while responding to a foreign news agency, Reuter, dispatch pertaining to Pakistan’s nuclear programme alleging illegal procurement, said that Pakistan’s credentials as a nuclear weapons state were well established.

“The allegations carried by Reuters only reveal a tendentious motivation,” he added.

In its report, the news wire service said that diplomats and nuclear experts in Vienna informed that Pakistan was using illegal channels to upgrade its nuclear weapons capability, despite efforts by the UN nuclear watchdog to shut down all illegal procurement avenues.

Story is Inaccurate, Baseless

Jilani said, “This story is inaccurate and baseless as Pakistan’s nuclear programme is purely indigenous and does not rely on foreign sources.”

The spokesman said a team from the 44-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, a body that aims to control nuclear exports, has asked to visit Pakistan and this has been accepted.

He said we were prepared to interact with the group that Pakistan could become its member and we could work together to promote nuclear non-proliferation goals.

However, he did not say when the visit of NSG team would take place. He said as a responsible nuclear weapons state, Pakistan firmly adhered to the non-proliferation goals, even though it was not a party to the NPT.

Pakistan has achieved excellence in the peaceful uses of the nuclear technology, he said adding that Islamabad would continue to work with members of the international community within and outside the IAEA framework as well as at the United Nations for promoting the goals of non-proliferation.

He, however, said that emphasis on nuclear non-proliferation does not mean that we abandon the requirement of international cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear technology.

“The existing anomalies in this regard need to be rectified,” he remarked.●