Well, it was only a matter of time.
IAEA seeks permission to inspect Pak N-sites
By Zia Iqbal Shahid
BRUSSELS: The UN nuclear watchdog has officially conveyed to Pakistan a formal request, seeking permission for inspection of some of the Pakistani nuclear installations by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s designated inspectors.
Talking to The News from Vienna, IAEA spokesperson and senior information officer Melissa Fleming said the IAEA expects from Pakistan cooperation in two areas of crucial importance in the ongoing investigations on nuclear proliferation and illegal nuclear exports.
Fleming said IAEA chief Dr Mohamed ElBaradei is of the view that “Pakistan is cooperating with the IAEA, but the agency wants more cooperation from Pakistan”.
Asked to identify the two areas where IAEA expects more cooperation from Pakistan, she said, “Firstly, the IAEA has requested Pakistan to provide all possible information on nuclear black market network, most urgently”. She said the IAEA wants to know from Pakistan whether some other countries or non-state actors had been buying nuclear technology as customers of the A Q Khan’s network".
Underlining the second expected area of cooperation, the IAEA spokesperson said, “We want Pakistan to allow the IAEA inspectors’ visits to the relevant Pakistani nuclear facilities enabling them to take environmental samples which could help in verifying the Iranian claim that highly enriched uranium (HEU) contamination found in Iran originated from Pakistan”.
**Asked to identify the channel used to convey the request, Fleming said, “Both the requests were conveyed to the government of Pakistan officially and I would not like to go into further details”.
In response to a question on the justification of asking such cooperation from a country, which is not a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the spokesperson said, “We know that Pakistan has not signed the NPT, but Pakistan is a member of the IAEA and we have requested Pakistan to cooperate with the IAEA voluntarily”.**
Fleming declined to reveal the details of Pakistani response to the IAEA request. “I do not want to go into further details,” was her terse answer. She said the IAEA director general’s visit to the US was very productive as he discussed the issues related to IAEA’s efforts to promote non-proliferation agenda across the globe.
