Pakistan foreign minister said that its nuclear assets “meet each and every international standard in accordance with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) as far as security and safety is concerned”, reports Asian Lite News
The Pakistan government is set to summon US Ambassador Donald Blome for an official demarche over American President Joe Biden’s statement regarding the country’s nuclear capability, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said.
While addressing the news conference, Bilawal said, “We will call their ambassador and issue a demarche, but I don’t think this was an official function […] it wasn’t an address to the parliament or an interview,” according to Dawn
This statement came after US President Biden, at a Democratic congressional campaign committee reception, said that Pakistan may be “one of the most dangerous nations in the world” as the country has “nuclear weapons without any cohesion”, according to the statement released by the White House.
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“And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion,” the White House quoted Biden as saying.
The remarks on Pakistan were made while Biden was talking about US foreign policy with regard to China and Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Biden concluded by saying he considered Pakistan to be the most dangerous country in the world.
“This is a guy (Xi Jinping) who understands what he wants but has an enormous, enormous array of problems. How do we handle that? How do we handle that relative to what’s going on in Russia? And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion,” said Biden, as quoted in a White House press release of his remarks at the Democratic party event.
Addressing the conference at the Bilawal House in Karachi today, the foreign minister said that Pakistan’s nuclear assets “meet each and every international standard in accordance with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) as far as security and safety is concerned”.
“I am surprised by the remarks of President Biden […] I believe this is exactly the sort of misunderstanding that is created when there is a lack of engagement.”
Bilawal said that Pakistan had embarked on a “journey of engagement” and just marked the 75th anniversary of bilateral engagements with the US, according to Dawn.
“If this was such a concern, I imagine it would’ve been raised in that meeting with me, I believe that we have just started our journey of engagement and we will have many more opportunities to engage with the US and address any concerns and misconceptions they might have to this specific question,” Bilawal said as quoted by Dawn.
Although, Bilawal said that he doesn’t believe it negatively impacts the relations between Pakistan and the US. but still, Biden’s remarks could be seen as a setback to the Shehbaz Sharif government’s bid to improve ties with the US.
Sharif on the defensive
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came to his country’s defence after US President Joe Biden questioned the precarious state of its nuclear program.
“Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state that is perfectly capable of safeguarding its national interest whilst respecting international law and practices. Our nuclear program is in no way a threat to any country. Like all independent states,” Nawaz Sharif tweeted.
“…Pakistan reserves the right to protect its autonomy, sovereign statehood and territorial integrity,” he added. (ANI)
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