Pakistan summons US envoy, hands over demarche over Biden’s ‘misleading’ remarks

Staff Repoter
ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Saturday handed a demarche to US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome following President Joe Biden’s “misleading” remarks over Islamabad’s nuclear programme.
The ministry informed the envoy of Pakistan’s stance and Ambassador Blome has also been asked to seek an explanation from the US president for his statement.
The US ambassador has also been informed that Pakistan’s atomic assets are safe and concerns about Pakistan’s nuclear program are baseless and the result of a misunderstanding.
Acting Foreign Secretary Johar Salim informed the US ambassador about Pakistan’s concern and point of view on President Biden’s words.
Pakistan told the US envoy that the IAEA has always expressed satisfaction with Pakistan’s nuclear program.
Pakistan has always played the role of a responsible nuclear state and will continue to play the same role in future as well.
Following the statement of US President Joe Biden regarding Pakistan’s nuclear programme, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the federal government has summoned US Ambassador Donald Blome to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for an official demarche.
Addressing a press conference in Karachi on Saturday, he said that the US President at an event had spoken about many countries, including Pakistan, about which he had a discussion with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and that we had summoned US Ambassador Donald Blome to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for an official demarche.
The foreign minister said that as far as the safety and security of Pakistan s nuclear assets are concerned, we have fulfilled all the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and if there were questions regarding the security and safety of nuclear assets, they should ask our neighbour India, which recently accidentally fired a missile on Pakistani soil, which was not only irresponsible and highly unsafe, but it also raises questions about the safety of Indian nuclear weapons.
“I was surprised by President Biden s statement,” he said, and added, “I believe it was just a misunderstanding caused by a lack of communication, but fortunately we are now on a journey to restore communication. Recently, the 75th anniversary of Pakistan-US bilateral relations was celebrated in the State Department at the Secretary of State level, and if there was any concern in this regard, the matter should have been raised with me in that meeting.