Islamabad will give up nukes, if India does too, says Pakistani diplomat

September 27th, 2009 NEW YORK - The Indian and Pakistan foreign ministers began crucial talks Sunday with India focusing on terror emanating from across the border and Islamabad still hedging its bets over action against the 26/11 Mumbai terror perpetrators. Hours before External Affairs Minister S.M.

September 13th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - India and Pakistan are likely to start their stalled composite dialogue through backdoor channel diplomacy to resolve outstanding issues, according to a report Sunday. The government is considering to assign responsibilities of backdoor diplomacy to former foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan, the Online news agency reported citing reliable sources in the Pakistani foreign ministry.

September 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Hours after disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr AQ Khan claimed that Pakistan had helped Iran acquire the nuclear technology with the aim to jointly emerge as a 'strong bloc' in the region, a Pakistani diplomat has out rightly rejected Khan's claims. Spokesman of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, Nadeem Kiyani, said Khan's statement has no 'official status'.These are the views of a person who has been rendered ineffective, and his network has been completely shut up," The Nation quoted Kiyani, as saying.

September 9th, 2009 LONDON - A top Pakistani diplomat has reacted strongly to Britain's accusations regarding Pakistan harbouring extremists plotting to attack the UK. The diplomat charged Britain of not doing enough to tackle home grown terrorists and treating Pakistan as a "whipping boy".

September 9th, 2009 LONDON - Britain has been accused of treating Pakistan like a whipping boy while failing to do enough to check home-grown British terrorism. A senior Pakistani diplomat was Wednesday quoted saying terrorists convicted Monday of planning to blow up transatlantic airliners were born and brought up in Britain, not Pakistan.

September 6th, 2009 TEHRAN -) India has exited from a gas pipeline deal it earlier planned with Iran and Pakistan, Mehr news agency reported citing a Pakistani diplomat. India definitely quitted the IPI (India-Pakistan-Iran) gas pipeline deal, the report said citing Pakistani ambassador to Iran, Muhammad Bux Abbasi, as saying here Sunday.

August 16th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke has lauded Pakistan for its successful military operations against the Taliban in the country. Holbrooke said the US has close contacts with the Pakistani leadership and is providing technical assistance to combat terrorism.

August 8th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit has said that the US embassy employee, who had pointed gun at a Pakistani cop in Islamabad, could be deported after being declared persona non grata. "The US diplomat who has pointed gun at Pakistani police officer can be deported after declaring him persona non grata," The Nation quoted Basit, as saying.

July 25th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - While India has vehemently denied receiving any dossier from Pakistan in Egypt during the Indo-Pak talks on the sidelines of the NAM summit, Pakistan has maintained that it certainly has handed over documents to New Delhi regarding its involvement in Baloch unrest which has the diplomacy of both countries volleying against each other. Pakistani diplomats have termed the documents as "a balanced statement addressing the real issues", while a top Indian diplomat allayed claims of receiving any such document saying no dossier was given by Pakistan on Balochistan.

July 22nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Two days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she considered India a global power, a top American diplomat echoed the thought here Wednesday, saying New Delhi could not be overlooked in Washington's Af-Pak strategy. No third country - and only Pakistan and Afghanistan - was part of his mandate, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke told reporters here, adding that India, being a major power in the region, could not be overlooked.

May 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan has said that it is ready to phase out its nuclear weapons if India too agrees to do the same. Terming Pakistan's nuclear arsenal as a 'deterrent' against India, Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, Hussain Haqqani said Islamabad is willing to ink an accord with New Delhi in order to destroy the nukes possessed by the two neighboring countries.

May 14th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has said that it does not need any certification from India or any other country to prove that the control and command mechanism of its nuclear arsenal is fool-proof. "We certainly do not need any certification from India and for that matter from any other country.

May 7th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Foreign Office on Thursday rubbished reports that Islamabad has shared information about its nukes with US authorities. Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told reporters here that information about Pakistan's nukes is sacrosanct and could not be shared with any other country.

January 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US has reiterated that Nov 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks originated from Pakistan, but wants New Delhi and Islamabad to work together to bring those responsible to justice and prevent future attacks. 'Well, we've talked about the origins of the attack coming from Pakistani soil.

December 24th, 2008 ISLAMABAD - India would have launched a war in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks but for the fact that Pakistan is a nuclear power, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif asserted Thursday. Sharif, who is also the brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, told a Christmas event in Lahore: 'The defence of Pakistan is undefeated and no one can look at the country with evil intentions.' The News website quoted him as saying that if Pakistan were not a nuclear power, India would have attacked it in the wake of the Mumbai savagery for which New Delhi has blamed Pakistani terrorists.