He warned that secured uranium supplies could allow India to divert domestic reserves for military purposes.
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Thursday reiterated its demand for verifiable assurances from Kabul that its territory will not be used for terrorist activities against Pakistan.
“As no such assurances have been received, Pakistan will continue to follow its current policy,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said during his weekly press briefing. He added that Islamabad reserved the right to respond in self-defense against cross-border attacks.
The spokesperson confirmed that two Pakistani nationals had lost their lives in the United Arab Emirates during the ongoing hostilities. Pakistan’s missions in the UAE, he said, had facilitated the repatriation of the deceased and were helping bereaved families.
He added that the Ministry of External Affairs had activated its Crisis Management Unit operating round the clock, while Pakistani diplomatic missions across the region had set up facilitation counters, helplines and registration portals to assist stranded Pakistani citizens with travel arrangements and consular support.
The spokesperson also expressed concern about a recent uranium supply agreement between Canada and India, saying the agreement represented a selective exception in civil nuclear cooperation and could undermine the global non-proliferation regime.
He warned that secured supplies of uranium could allow India to divert domestic reserves for military purposes, which could accelerate the expansion of its nuclear arsenal and aggravate strategic imbalances in South Asia.
Reiterating Pakistan’s position, Andrabi said civil nuclear cooperation should be based on a non-discriminatory criteria-based approach applicable to all states outside the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
