Pakistan Denies Any Nuclear Aid for Saudis

Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry has said that Pakistan is not holding negotiations with Saudi Arabia to sell an “off-the-shelf” nuclear weapon to the Kingdom.

“Pakistan is not talking to Saudi Arabia on nuclear issues,” he said during a roundtable with reporters in Washington on Thursday afternoon.

The remarks by top Pakistani diplomat came after on May 17, British newspaper Sunday Times quoted a former US defence official as saying that Saudi Arabia has made a “strategic decision” to purchase “off-the-shelf” nuclear weapons from Pakistan.

“There has been a long-standing agreement in place with the Pakistanis, and the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward,” the US official said.

Chaudhry, after meetings at the White House, Pentagon and State Department, described as “unfounded, baseless and untrue” the suggestions that Islamabad could sell a nuclear weapon.

“Pakistan’s nuclear programme has nothing to do with any other country,” he added.

Chaudhry also said that Pakistan has developed its nuclear programme to fend off threats against the country from the east.

“This is a deterrence that we develop in response to a threat perception that we have from our east.
That’s it,” he added in an obvious reference to India.
Both Islamabad and New Delhi possess nuclear arms in their arsenals.

Former British Foreign Secretary Lord David Owen said the Western military leaders “all assume the Saudis have made the decision to go nuclear.
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Chaudhry said Islamabad remains closely allied with both Riyadh and Tehran, despite rising tension between the two over the prospective US nuclear deal with Iran and a war raging between Saudi forces and Houthis in Yemen.

Capping three days of meetings with the Obama administration, the foreign secretary said Pakistan firmly believes that US nuclear deal currently on the table with Iran is the best way to reduce mounting sectarian friction in the region.
Pakistan looks forward to sanctions on Tehran to be lifted so the two nations, which share a roughly 560-mile border, may expand their trade relationship and reopen transport and supply networks through the region.

“Because of the sanctions, we were not able to implement the Pak-Iran gas pipeline,” he said.
“Our country is suffering from an energy crisis.
So, here was a source, which was more economical, accessible and doable, but we could not do that because of the sanctions on Iran.