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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday called for continuing diplomatic efforts to resolve Iranian nuclear issues and added that UN sanctions would not affect ties between the two neighbours.
“We believe that the passage of the UN resolution should not be a reason to abandon diplomatic efforts for a diplomatic solution of this crisis,” Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan said, in the first official Pakistani reaction to the UN move against the Islamic Republic last week.
The Security Council resolution adopted on Saturday mandated sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.
Khan told a news conference that the resolution would not impact Pakistan-Iran bilateral relations as the scope of sanctions was limited to cooperation in nuclear sector, which did not exist between the two countries.
“The scope of this resolution is limited to cooperation with Iran in nuclear sector and Pakistan does not have cooperation with Iran in this particular sector.”
Khan said though Pakistan was not in favour of sanctions against Iran and it had always supported a diplomatic solution of Iranian nuclear issue but it would abide by the UN resolution.
“We have noted the Security Council resolution which is under chapter seven, and therefore its implementation is mandatory,” Khan said.
Khan said that Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy must be acknowledged, but at the same time he urged Iran to fulfil its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
“We believe that Iran has right to access peaceful nuclear energy under IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards. Iran must of course abide by its obligations as a signatory to NPT, all parties indeed must abide by their international obligations.”
Pakistan's own nuclear programme came under international scrutiny when its chief nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan confessed in February 2004 to leaking secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
