ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani reiterated his Government’s commitment to take all political parties into confidence on all the national policies particularly related to defence, Kashmir and nuclear issues.
He informed the members that he desired to take all the political forces in to confidence before his visit to Washington to participate in the Nuclear Security Summit to be held on April 12-13.
In his opening statement while chairing a special meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security at the Constitutional Committee Room in the Parliament House on Wednesday afternoon, the Prime Minister said that Pakistan being a nuclear state was cognizant of its responsibilities and had developed an effective nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation measures underpinned by extensive legislative, regulatory and administrative framework.
“As Chairman of the National Command Authority, his Government fully accepts the responsibility of nuclear security, which reflects the determination of the political Government to accept the responsibility collectively,” he further said.
The Prime Minister said that nuclear power generation offers viable solutions for energy addressing the challenge of climate change. He mentioned that Pakistan had more than 35 years experience of operating nuclear power plants successfully. He further said that highly trained manpower and a well established foolproof safety and security culture fully qualified Pakistan for equal participation in civil nuclear cooperation at the international level, which would help Pakistan in addressing immediate energy problems and would bring greater stability as well.
The Prime Minister said, “Pakistan is a democratic, progressive and peaceful country, adding, “Our socio-economic development hinges on our ability to meet rapidly expanding energy requirements”. He stressed the need of exploring all options to ensure a reliable energy mix and civil nuclear power generation, which was, therefore, an essential part of the country’s national energy strategy.
The Prime Minister declared that the Government considered nuclear safety and security as vehicles to facilitate international civil nuclear cooperation. He observed that the objectives of nuclear non-proliferation, safety and security could only be served and promoted through a non-discriminatory paradigm for the international cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Pakistan, he added, needs access to civilian nuclear technology on a non-discriminatory basis.
Earlier, Lt. General (Rtd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, DG SPD, briefed the Parliamentary Committee on PakistanÂ’s Nuclear Programme and Security of Nuclear Assets. During his presentation, he mentioned that Pakistan had one of the best systems for the safety and security of nuclear assets and technology both on the defence and civilian side.
Masood Khan, PakistanÂ’s Ambassador in China, who participated in the preliminary deliberations of the forthcoming Nuclear Summit in Washington, apprised the Parliamentary Committee on the objectives of the Summit and the preparations made by Pakistan to contribute in the deliberations of the Summit positively.
The USA, he mentioned, has already made the objectives public, which were a manifestation of President Barak ObamaÂ’s three points strategy for non-proliferation of nuclear technology in the interest of global security. He also apprised that while leading the Pakistan delegation at the Summit the Prime Minister was likely to meet other leaders on the sidelines of Summit.
The representatives of all the political parties in the Parliament Committee on National Defence applauded the gesture of the Prime Minister for taking them into confidence prior to his participation in an important international Summit. They assured him of complete support and expressed confidence that he would be able to put across PakistanÂ’s viewpoint forcefully being a democratically elected Prime Minister enjoying complete backing of the entire nation.
The members of the Committee also appreciated the preparations made by the Pakistani side for the Summit and expressed satisfaction over policies and measures in place for the safety and security of nuclear materials and facilities in Pakistan. The members also gave suggestions on various aspects of the subject of the Summit, which were aptly accommodated.
The special meeting was also attended by Mr Ahmed Mukhtar, Defence Minister, General Tariq Majid, Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee and the Foreign Secretary.
The leaders of the Parliamentary parties who attended the meeting represented PPPP, PML-N, PML-Q, ANP, JI, MQM, PML-F, PPP-S, PKMAP, BNP-A and JWP.
Monitoring Desk adds: Masood told the Committee that Pakistan and China would attend the US summit with a joint strategy, reported a private TV channel, quoting sources.
He said China would support Pakistan demand that the United States also makes a civilian nuclear deal with Pakistan like it had done with India.