Protection of Iraqis main aim: Pakistan: Saddam asked to cooperate
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Jan 28: Pakistan on Tuesday said United Nations weapons inspectors should be allowed to continue their work but also stressed that President Saddam Hussein had a “heavy responsibility” to cooperate fully with the relevant Security Council resolutions.
It urged that all Security Council members should equitably share all information.
Pakistan’s “principled position” on Iraq was outlined in a statement issued by the foreign ministry on Tuesday, a day after the United Nation’s Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) submitted their report on Iraq to the Security Council.
The one-page statement spelt out the following broad parameters:
1. A peaceful resolution and preventing the further suffering of the Iraqi people must constitute the main objective.
2. United Nation’s Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency are carrying out an important exercise to ensure that Iraq remains disarmed of weapons of mass destruction potential, and they should be permitted to continue their work.
3. In the interests of the Iraqi people, regional and international peace and security, Iraq’s president has a heavy responsibility to ensure that the Iraqi authorities cooperate to fully implement the Security Council Resolutions related to disarmament in Iraq.
4. Pakistan urges the unity of the Security Council at this crucial time and emphasizes the necessity to ensure that all the council members fully and equitably shared whatever information was available so that they could make their objective judgments accordingly.
Pakistan recently assumed its seat as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.
The foreign office statement said the country would remain fully involved in the ongoing formal and informal council discussions on Iraq.
