Rabbani condemns Pompeo’s statement on Pak nukes

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman Senate Senator Mian Raza Rabbani Tuesday condemned US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement on Pakistan’s nuclear programme, calling it the most serious aspersion on Pakistan’s deterrent nuke programme.

Reacting to the US Secretary of State’s statement, Rabbani said, “The statement of the US Secretary of State appearing in the media today about Pakistan’s nuclear programme is a matter of deep concern and is condemned in the strongest terms.”

The present statement, he pointed out, was perhaps the most serious aspersion on Pakistan’s deterrent nuclear programme. “The government should immediately call a joint sitting of Parliament to take Parliament into confidence on its response to the US Secretary of State.

The joint sitting should also be briefed on the national action plan,” he emphasised. Rabbani was of the view that the meeting of parliamentary leaders called by the government to brief them on the National Action Plan (NAP) was not sufficient as the Parliament, as a whole needed to be taken into confidence.

He contended that the government could not deny individual members of the Parliament of the right to be kept informed of government policy on matters of national security. Considering the nuclear proliferation risks that extended from Pakistan, as alleged by the US Secretary to be one of five threats the US was facing, he noted, exposed the real designs behind building India the policeman of the region.

The veteran legislator said, while defining its regional policy sometimes back, the US singled out Pakistan and China, further in August 2018, the US Secretary called to block aid to Chinese allies, it would also be recalled that he issued a similar statement in August, 2018 saying that the IMF bailout for Pakistan must not be used to help repay Chinese loans that Pakistan had incurred during the CPEC. Furthermore, the US refused to pay the expenditures incurred by Pakistan for and on its behalf it in the war on terror, Rabbani recalled.