KARACHI: The Foreign Office (FO) on Friday rubbished reports of the visit of a high-level delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the country as “fake news” and said there was no veracity to the matter.
A day ago, an official of PTI’s US chapter and several social media users, who appeared to be PTI supporters based on their past posts and account descriptions, shared a video clip from an Indian news channel about a meeting between IAEA Director General (DG) Rafael Mariano Grossi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The posts questioned whether the government had closed a deal to hand over nuclear arsenal.
YouTuber and TV analyst Moeed Pirzada also questioned the military’s public relations wing about the alleged visit’s agenda and why it was not being reported in the media.
Addressing the matter, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch in a post on X, formerly Twitter, stated: “Stories regarding the visit of a high-level IAEA delegation to Pakistan are fake news! No IAEA official is currently visiting Pakistan; Nor are any policy talks planned in near future with IAEA.”
She said the IAEA DG had last visited the country in February 2023 and the FO had accordingly briefed the media on the occasion.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar also responded to the FO spokesperson’s clarification and said: “Fake news from an anchor based abroad clearly rebutted. Such blatant lies and propaganda to harm the state based on malicious intent will be responded to. Make no mistake.”
The meeting shown in the viral video clip took place between the IAEA DG and PM Shehbaz last year when they met to increase collaboration in peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology, particularly in agriculture and medicine.
Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2024
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