NEW YORK - Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi has said that Pakistan cannot limit its nuclear programme unilaterally.
“Pakistan’s nuclear programme cannot be limited,” she said. “The world should first put an end to nuclear activities undertaken by India,” she added.
Addressing a joint press conference with Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry in New York on Tuesday, she said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made it clear to Secretary John Kerry that India should also be asked to take same measures what are demanded from Pakistan.
Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry said India should be pressured about how to maintain good ties with its neighbours. He said the PM’s speech includes a mention of Indian interference in different areas of Pakistan.
He said, “We will also work out some solution to end Turkey’s reservations on Pak-Turkish schools being run in the country.”
Aizaz said the world acknowledged efforts and sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in fight against terrorism. He further said that no other state had acted against terrorism as much as Pakistan had.
Nawaz Sharif has been in New York to address the 71st session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where he is busy fighting the case of Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK).
The premier has been holding meetings with world leaders in a bid to garner support on Kashmir issue and to bring India to negotiations table to resolve this longstanding dispute.
Meanwhile, two American lawmakers yesterday introduced legislation in the US Congress to designate Pakistan as a terrorism sponsoring state.
The development came hours before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was to address the 71st session of UN General Assembly wherein he was to tell the world about the India’s state terrorism in Occupied Kashmir.
Over past two and a half months, Indian troops have killed more than 100 innocent civilians and injured thousands of protesters demanding right to self-determination, as promised by the UN resolutions.
The bill was moved by Congressmen Ted Poe and Dana Rohrabacher, both of them Republicans and Pakistan haters. Poe is also the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism.
Rohrabacher is a strong opponent to Pakistan and, towing India’s line, he has been blowing Balochistan issue out of proportions to malign Islamabad.
“Not only is Pakistan an untrustworthy ally, Islamabad has also aided and abetted enemies of the United States for years. From harboring Osama bin Laden to its cozy relationship with the Haqqani network, there is more than enough evidence to determine whose side Pakistan is on in the War on Terror. And it’s not America’s,’’ Poe said in a statement on Tuesday announcing the bill.
“It is time we stop paying Pakistan for its betrayal and designate it for what it is: a state sponsor of terrorism,” Congressman Poe said in his stinging remarks.
The bill is largely symbolic considering the current Congress is now in its final days, and only a small fraction of the thousands of bills it takes up become law in any case.
Moreover, observers say the timing of the bill suggests that it has more to do with Kashmir than Pak-US alliance in war on terror. It looks to be another effort by the Indian lobby in the US to offset pressure New Delhi is facing because of Kashmir oppression, they said.
The bill is however significant in that it will require the Obama Administration to formally answer the question whether or not Pakistan has provided support for international terrorism, the President must issue a report on this within 90 days of passage.
Thirty days after that, the Secretary of State must issue a follow-up report containing either a determination that Pakistan is State Sponsor of Terrorism or a detailed justification as to why Pakistan does not meet the legal criteria for designation.
The text of the bill cited multiple infractions by Pakistan in its sponsorship of terrorism, including US threat assessments that revealed “Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) facilitated al-Qaida’s movement of fighters to and from Afghanistan as well as the terrorist organisation’s purchase of weapons.”
The Indian connection to this sinister bill was quite clear when Poe, in a separate statement ahead of the presentation of the bill, condemned the terrorist attack on the Uri military camp in India and bashed Pakistan.
This is just the “latest consequence of Pakistan’s longstanding irresponsible policy of supporting and providing operational space for all stripes of jihadi terrorist groups”, he said.
“Pakistan’s reckless behavior in this regard is a serious security risk to its neighbors - and India unfortunately pays the price all too often. We condemn this tragic attack, as well as Pakistan’s support for many criminals like the ones who carried it out, and stand firm in our commitment to our friends in India,” Poe said.
Pro-India US lawmakers had also made a failed attempt to designate Pakistan a terrorist state in 1993 after India wrongly accused Pakistan of engineering the Mumbai serial blasts through Dawood Ibrahim.