KEY POINTS
- PM Shehbaz says Pakistan’s nuclear capability was only meant for defence.
- He laments the US’s sanctions for lacking justification.
- He says Pakistan will never make any compromise on its nuclear programme.
ISLAMABAD: Reacting to the sanctions imposed by the United States (US), Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday outrightly ruled out the prospects of any compromise on the country’s nuclear programme and termed the US sanctions on Pakistani firms “illogical”.
The Prime Minister reiterated that Pakistan’s nuclear system was not meant for any aggression but only deterrence.
“There is no justification for the sanctions imposed on us. There will be no compromise on Pakistan’s nuclear programme,” the premier said while addressing a federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said there is no justification for the sanctions imposed on Pakistan’s nuclear programme. He said there will be no compromise on the country’s nuclear programme.
PM Shehbaz told the cabinet members that Pakistan’s nuclear system was very dear to its 240 million people and they would never make any compromise on it, Pakistan state-run news agency, APP, reported.
Last week, the US imposed sanctions on four Pakistani firms related to Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme. Pakistan’s Foreign Office strongly reacted to the move and termed the US allegations unfounded and biased. Pakistan warned that it could have dangerous implications for the strategic stability of the region and beyond.
While speaking to a private news channel, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that US sanctions on Pakistan’s missile programme were unwarranted and detrimental to bilateral relations.
“A superpower should neither experience discomfort nor view a threat from Pakistan’s missile programme,” she said as quoted by Geo News. She stressed that the country’s defence programmes — both nuclear and missile — were solely for the country’s security interests.
The recently sanctioned entities included the National Development Complex (NDC) which, according to the US, was Responsible for Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme and worked to acquire items to advance the country’s long-range ballistic missile initiative.
It also sanctioned Affiliates International, Akhtar and Sons Private Limited, and Rockside Enterprise for working to supply equipment and missile‐applicable items to the ballistic missile programme, including its long-range missile programme.
This is not the first time Washington has gone after Islamabad’s strategic capabilities as in October 2023, it had imposed sanctions on three Chinese companies for supplying missile-applicable items to Pakistan.
