March 6, 2003	Thursday	Muharram 2, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 5: Foreign Minister Mian Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Wednesday informed the National Assembly that Pakistan was not considering signing the CTBT (comprehensive test ban treaty) as it had no prospects of implementation.

Also, it has no intention of signing the NPT (No Proliferation Treaty) because Pakistan was a nuclear state.

The foreign minister in a written reply said that Pakistan was an origional signatory of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, generally known as Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

He said that Javed Hashmi, the then minister for special education and social welfare, had signed the CWC on behalf of Pakistan at a ceremony held in Paris on January 1993. The former President Sardar Farooq Leghari signed the instrument of ratification on Oct 23, 1997 which was deposited with the UN Secretary-General on Oct 28, 1997.

To another question, he said that there were 70 ambassadors, 172 officers and 577 staff working in Pakistan’s missions abroad.

To another question, the foreign minister said that both Pakistan and India has already signed the agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities at Islamabad on Dec 31, 1988.

This agreement commits the two countries to refrain from undertaking, encouraging or participating, directly or indirectly, in any action aimed at causing the destruction of, or damage to any nuclear installation or facility in the other country.

This agreement came into force following the exchange of instruments of ratification in Jan 1991. In pursuance to article- II of the agreement, Pakistan and India exchange lists of their nuclear installations on Jan 1 every year. The last exchange took place simultaneously at Islamabad and New Delhi on Jan 1, 2003, he said.

The minister said that as per the unwritten understanding, both countries have refrained from publishing the list of each other’s nuclear installa