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| 27 November 2004 | Saturday | 14 Shawwal 1425 |
N-facilities inspection not allowed, says FO
ISLAMABAD, Nov 26: Pakistan on Friday denied reports appearing in a section of the US media that Islamabad had agreed to a limited inspection of its nuclear facilities by IAEA personnel.
When asked for official comment on the reports in the Washington Post and the Washington Times, Foreign Office spokesman, Masood Khan, said, "This is not correct." When asked if Pakistan had received any formal request from the IAEA for inspection of its nuclear facilities, the spokesman said: "No, We haven't."
Acoording to a report from our Washington correspondent, the US newspapers reported that Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has informed his organization's board of directors that Pakistan has agreed to allow "limited inspection" of its nuclear facilities.
The Washington Post said the permission would give IAEA inspectors "limited access" to Pakistan's nuclear facilities while the Washington Times said Pakistan had given the agency "approval in principle to inspect some of its nuclear equipment."
The inspection will allow IAEA inspectors to verify Iran's claim that enriched uranium found on its equipment was imported inadvertently on components Tehran bought from the A.Q. Khan network.
Iran also has reported to the IAEA that the equipment originated in Pakistan where they were used for enriching uranium before the Khan network sold them to Tehran. Mr ElBaradei, according to the Post, told the 35-member IAEA board that now that Pakistan has agreed to "allow limited access to its facilities," this outstanding issue about Iran's nuclear programme "may become clearer."
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