WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has assured Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that his country has ‘no sinister designs’ on Pakistan’s nuclear programme.
“I feel confident that Pakistan has secured its nuclear weapons,” Mr Obama said. “I am concerned about nuclear security all around the world, not just in Pakistan but everywhere.”
The US president then assured the Pakistani leader that his country had no plan at all of harming Pakistan’s nuclear programme.
“Have no fear, we have no sinister designs,” he said.
Later, Prime Minister Gilani told journalists at a dinner he hosted for them that he had thanked President Obama for “his expression of firm confidence in our nuclear programme”.
He said he reassured the US leader that “Pakistan’s nuclear assets are in safe hands”.
Mr Gilani said he had come to the nuclear summit with a mandate from the entire nation, including the ruling and opposition parties both in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. “All political parties support the Pakistani nuclear programme and want its protection,” he added.
The prime minister said he attached highest priority to Pakistan’s security and “that remains the central focus of my deliberations here at the summit”.
Also, on the day leaders from 47 nations began their two-day deliberations in Washington on how to curb nuclear weapons; the US media warned that America’s nuclear deal with India has accelerated a dangerous arms race in South Asia.
Interestingly, The New York Times chose the day also to highlight a two-week old report that Pakistan has completed its second plutonium production reactor at Khushab.
The newspaper reported that President Obama used his meeting with Prime Minister Gilani to “express disappointment” that Pakistan was blocking the opening of negotiations on a treaty that would halt production of new nuclear material around the world.
This referred to Pakistan’s position on the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, which could ban the production of such materials, and require acceptance of IAEA inspections to verify that treaty obligations were met.
Pakistan wants the proposed treaty also to address asymmetry in nuclear stockpiles, instead of focussing on future productions alone.