Chinese nuclear cooperation with Pakistan a step in the right direction: Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri

Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri, president of Federal Council of Minhaj-ul-Quran International, has termed the Chinese nuclear cooperation with Pakistan as ‘a step in the right direction.’ He said that Pakistan had a rightful claim to civil nuclear deal to meet its fast growing energy demands. He said that it was the right of every country to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purpose under the provisions of Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He demanded the NSG and IAEA to democratize their processes and end the policy of discrimination in that regard. He said that Pakistan’s nuclear programme enjoyed international credibility. There is a multilayered control and command structure. He said that the Indo-US nuclear deal could trigger arms race in South Asia and India was given a waiver from the conditionalities of NSG, which was discriminatory. He termed the US criticism on Pakistan’s cooperation with China in the area of nuclear energy as misplaced in that regard. Appreciating the Chinese stance on extending nuclear deal with Pakistan for peaceful use, he said that the US, being a strategic ally of Islamabad, should take concrete steps towards easing energy crisis and civil nuclear deal with Pakistan on the pattern of Indo-US nuclear engagement, which was the best route to take.