SYDNEY, July 27: Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Friday dismissed a plea from a Pakistani minister to supply uranium to his country, saying the South Asian nation did not have any nuclear power stations.

Australia on Thursday said it was considering selling uranium to India after New Delhi finalises a landmark civilian nuclear deal with the United States.

Pakistan's Religious Affairs Minister Ijaz-ul-Haq said if Canberra agreed to sell uranium to India, it should also consider selling the resource to its South Asian nuclear rival.

“Pakistan should be considered alongside India when countries who are working in this region, they have to keep the balance of power in this region,” Ijaz-ul-Haq told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The minister said Islamabad would use the uranium for energy purposes.

“Pakistan's nuclear programme is totally peaceful,” he said. “If we are going to go further into nuclear it is going to be for energy because we are suffering from power shortages.”

But Downer downplayed the request, saying the religion minister may not be the best person to comment on uranium sales.

“Pakistan, I might be wrong, but to the best of my knowledge anyway, have never approached us on this issue before,” Downer told Southern Cross Radio.

“And I am not sure the minister for religious affairs could really be termed an expert on this subject, he would be an expert on religious affairs.

“I'm not sure about power and energy generation in Pakistan being his area of profound expertise, but I might be being unfair to him, I simply don't know.”—AFP