ISLAMABAD, March 12: The opposition members in the Senate have submitted two adjournment motions seeking a parliamentary debate on the public admission made by Federal Minister for Information Sheikh Rashid Ahmed that Dr A.Q. Khan had transferred centrifuges to Iran.

The first adjournment motion, signed by People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) senators Farhatullah Babar, Dr Safdar Abbasi and Enver Baig, says the statement of the information minister had posed new and real dangers not only to Pakistan’s nuclear programme, but also to its national security.

Through the motion, the PPP senators raised questions regarding the disclosure made by the information minister that Pakistan had supported Iran in developing weapons of mass destruction.

“What were the compulsions or motivations for the government of Pakistan to make this confession as it had all along in the past denied allegations of transferring nuclear technology to Iran?”, the motion states, adding: “Will the disclosure not further weaken Iran’s position as is evidenced from the fact that within hours of Pakistan’s admission, US President George Bush citing ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’ from Iran renewed sanctions against it and the European Union talked of coordinated efforts to make Iran abandon its nuclear programme?”

The motion says: “Will it serve Pakistan’s security interests by pushing Iran into alienation and even belligerency in an already volatile region?

“The members ask whether by denying past denials, Pakistan will not come under increasing pressure to make more and more confessions and yield more and more?

“Will the disclosure now not increase pressure on Pakistan to hand over Dr A.Q. Khan to foreign investigators?

“These and many other questions involving national security and state’s credibility are involved which need to be addressed in a parliamentary debate,” says the adjournment motion.

Meanwhile, ARD parliamentary secretary Izhar Amrohvi told Dawn that the opposition members belonging to various political parties had also submitted a similar adjournment motion to the Senate secretariat on Saturday.

The motion has been signed by Opposition Leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, Asfandyar Wali of the Awami National Party, Sanaullah Baloch of the Balochistan National Party, Prof Khurshid Ahmed of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Raza Mohammad Raza of the Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party, Amanullah Kanrani of the Jamhoori Watan Party, Ishaq Dar and Sadia Abbasi of the PML-N and Rukhsana Zuberi and Sardar Latif Khosa of the PPP.