Staff Reporter
WASHINGTON :Expressing concern on Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile programme, US State Department’s Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Thursday that Islamabad has been an important partner in non-proliferation and “it’s our hope to continue to engage constructively” in other field.He was responding to a question regarding new sanctions against Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile programme during a press briefing which Foreign Office in Islamabad labelled as double standards.Patel stressed on “the US is committed to maintaining the global nonproliferation regime.”But, he added that “Pakistan is an important partner in efforts for nonproliferation.”He also expressed the fears that Pakistan would attain the capability to strike targets in the United States.Patel said: “We have been clear and consistent about our concerns with Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile programme. It is longstanding US policy to deny support to Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile programme. The Department of State will continue to use sanctions and other tools to protect our national security and ensure that US exporters and US financial systems cannot be abused by proliferators. And it’s our hope to continue to engage constructively with the Pakistani government on these issues.”It may be noted that Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer raised concern about “shift in Pakistan’s objectives of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes” from India.” Speaking to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, he said, “Pakistan will have the capability to strike targets well beyond South Asia, including in the United States.”Replying to a question about Islamabad’s criticism on new sanctions that aim against Pakistan’s nuclear programme, Patel said: “So these designations are based on our concerns regarding Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile programme, but they don’t affect other areas of US-Pakistan areas of cooperation, which we have a great deal of.”It may be recalled that on Wednesday, the US announced clamping new sanctions related to nuclear-armed Pakistan’s long-range ballistic-missile programme, including on the state-owned defense agency that oversees the programme.State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that the measures slapped on the National Development Complex and three firms were imposed under an executive order that “targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.”
