IAEA safeguards grant India nuclear weapons status: Pakistan

  • 24/07/2008

  • Hindu (New Delhi)

Siddharth Varadarajan May move amendments to draft in Board meeting New Delhi: In a four-page letter addressed to Board members of the IAEA, Pakistan has attacked the draft Indian safeguards agreement for envisaging termination conditions and fuel supply arrangements which could allow India to "divert part of [any imported] fuel for weapons purposes.' At the same time, it said that the Indian model should not be "discriminatory' and should be applied to states such as itself. Pakistan is a member of the 35-strong Board of Governors. The letter, written by its Ambassador to the IAEA, Shahbaz, was sent out on July 18, though the Indian mission in Vienna has yet to formally receive a copy. A similar letter was circulated by Pakistan's Ambassador to the U.N., Munir Akram, on July 15. The BoG will meet August 1 to consider the Indian agreement. Apart from raising procedural objections to the convening of a Board of Governors meeting at short notice, Pakistan is strongly opposing a number of specific provisions in the agreement. It says both the BoG and the Nuclear Suppliers Group should "carefully weigh the consequences that may ensue from succumbing to