China assures Pak to back its demand for civil nuke deal with US

ISLAMABAD - China has assured Pakistan that it would support the latter during the forthcoming nuclear summit in Washington on all issues, including Islamabad’s long standing demand for a civil-nuclear deal with the US.

According to sources privy to a special meeting of the parliamentary committee on national security, which was presided over by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Beijing has assured of all help during Gilani’s upcoming US visit.

Sources said that Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, Masood Khan, who participated in preliminary deliberations on the nuclear summit in Washington, briefed the committee on the objectives of the summit and Pakistan’s preparations for it.

A statement issued after the meeting quoted Gilani, as saying that Islamabad is aware about its responsibilities as a nuclear state.

“Pakistan had taken effective steps for nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation through ‘extensive legislative and a regulatory and administrative framework’,” The Daily Times quoted Gilani, as saying.

Gilani, who is also the chairman of Pakistan’s National Command Authority (NCA), said the objectives of nuclear non-proliferation, safety and security could only be served and promoted through a ‘non-discriminatory paradigm’ for international cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. (ANI)