ISLAMABAD, May 7: Eight opposition members on Saturday submitted an adjournment motion to the Senate Secretariat, seeking a debate on a recent statement of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz that Pakistan was ready to send centrifuge parts to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna for tests. According to Parliamentary Secretary of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy Izhar Amrohvi, the motion has been submitted under rule 74 of the Rules and Procedures for Conduct of Business in the Senate Act 1988.

Those who have signed the motion are opposition leader Raza Rabbani (People’s Party Parliamentarians), parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Ishaq Dar, Sanaullah Baloch of the Balochistan National Party, Aslam Buledi of the Balochistan National Movement, Amanullah Kunrani of the Jamhoori Watan Party, Dr Safdar Abbasi (PPP), Asfandyar Wali of the Awami National Party and Raza Mohammad Raza of the Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party.

The motion states that the prime minister told journalists in Kuala Lumpur on Friday that Pakistan would send centrifuge parts for tests by the UN atomic agency to help determine whether Iran had been secretly developing nuclear weapons.

“This is a U-turn statement of the prime minister on the subject which needs immediate discussion on the floor of the house,” it says.

Mr Amrohvi said that the opposition believed that the government had changed its policy as earlier the foreign office had announced that Pakistan would not send centrifuge parts to the IAEA for inspection. He said that it seemed the government had changed its earlier stance after succumbing to foreign pressure.

He said that President Musharraf’s statement last month that Pakistan would ‘consider’ sending the parts to Vienna was the first signal from the regime that it was about to change the policy.