‘US asked Pak to drop opposition to India-IAEA deal’
Pakistan wanted to block or, at the least, force a vote on a key agreement India was negotiating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2008, but was asked by the US to stand down.
But the PPP government went against the advice of its own foreign office to let the agreement go through uncontested, overriding its own objection registered in writing.
“American officials pointed out that Pakistan would not be able to ask for a similar deal down the road after opposing it before the IAEA board,” then Pakistani ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani told HT in response to a request for comments. He, however, denied that there was any pressure on him or Pakistan. The country-specific safeguards agreement India was seeking with the IAEA, and signed in February 2009, was critical to the operationalisation of the path-breaking India-US nuclear deal.
Under the IAEA agreement, India submitted for safeguard inspection all its civilian use nuclear facilities, existing then and those that may follow in the future. Zameer Akram, then permanent representative to the UN, Geneva, held ambassador Haqqani responsible for Pakistan changing the government position, and not oppose India aggressively. “Haqqani had ‘leveraged pressure’ on the government to overrule the Foreign Office’s recommendations for opposing the India agreement,” The Dawn reportedonFridayquotingAkram.
The Pakistani ambassador to the IAEA had written a letter to the international body’s board opposing clearance to the agreement, and support amendments suggested by Islamabad.
Pakistan had even lined up
As an ambassador to the US, I only conveyed the US perspective on the matter with the Pak government... The decision to not waste time trying to block the agreement in the IAEA was taken by the Pak government. HUSAIN HAQQANI, former Pakistani ambassador to the US
its friends, such as China, in its support. But, “the Foreign Office was pressured to change its recommendations,” Akram said. He was at a seminar.
The Dawn reported that the reason for Pakistan changing its position had always been a mystery, and Akram had finally plugged the gap — on “how it had been maneuvered”.
Haqqani, who now lives in the US and works at a DC thinktank as its South Asia head, dismissed Akron’s charges calling him “a renowned hawk” who is “playing to the gallery”. He said Pakistan simply didn’t have sufficient votes in IAEA to stop the IndiaUS deal. And China? “China does not have a veto in the IAEA that Pakistan could invoke”.
“As an ambassador to the US, I only conveyed the US perspective on the matter with the Pakistan government,” he said, adding, “The decision to not waste time trying to block the agreement in the IAEA was taken by the Pakistan government in Islamabad.”