Civil N-ties with UK to be discussed next week: Reid
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Oct 4: Pakistan and the United Kingdom will discuss civil nuclear cooperation next week, disclosed British Secretary of State for Defence John Reid. He was talking to newsmen on Tuesday before leaving here after a two-day visit to Pakistan.
He was asked if Pakistan has sought a civil nuclear cooperation pact with the United Kingdom which is one of the three countries to offer such a cooperation to India after the signing of a civil nuclear cooperation deal between New Delhi and Washington. Mr Reid said the matter figured at the talks between President General Pervez Musharraf and British Prime Minister in New York last month.
A high-level defence delegation from the United Kingdom will be coming to Pakistan next week to discuss the issue with the authorities in Pakistan, he said. But he did not say anything about the composition of the delegation.
He said the Pakistan-UK partnership is getting stronger and added that the Britain was committed to further bolster the ties. He said the two countries have done a lot to deal with the common threat of terrorism, but observed that there is a lot more to do.
Mr Reid said both the United Kingdom and Pakistan were victims of terrorism and referred to the attempts made on the life of Gen Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
The UK and the international community fully recognise the huge contribution made by Pakistan in tackling the global threat of terrorism, he said. We also appreciate the immense work and co- operation that Pakistan has carried out in addressing the problem of narcotics trafficking.
He lauded President Musharraf for his personal commitment to root out and tackle insurgency as part of the global war on terror. Terrorism and the extremism that breeds terrorism must be routed out from both our societies.” We must also join together to rid our communities of the devastation imposed by the scourge of illegal narcotics”, he added.
About 90 per cent of the drugs sold in the streets of the United Kingdom from Afghanistan, reaches UK via Pakistan, he said.
He said a politically stable and economically vibrant Afghanistan is in the interest of both Pakistan and the United Kingdom. He said it would also help the United Kingdom to obviate possible attacks by terrorists using Afghanistan as its base and check narcotics trade.
John Reid refused to comment on the startling revelation made by former British Secretary Michael Major that Omar saeed Sheikh, the man convicted and sentenced in Karachi for killing the American journalist Daniel Pearl, was a recognised agent of British Intelligence agency MI-6. “I cannot confirm or deny something which is not in my knowledge”, he remarked. Answering a question, he said willingness to use force is a necessary condition to fight terrorism, but it is never sufficient.
