Pakistan: Foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry denies talks with Saudis on nuclear issues

Pakistan has strongly denied reports claiming it can supply Saudi Arabia with a nuclear weapon "off-the-shelf".

Calling the reports "unfounded, baseless and untrue", the country's foreign secretary, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, said on Thursday (4 June): "Pakistan's nuclear programme has nothing to do with any other country.

"This is a deterrence that we develop in response to a threat perception that we have from our east. That's it.

"Pakistan is not talking to Saudi Arabia on nuclear issues, period."

Chaudhry's comments came after his meeting with high-level officials at the White House, Pentagon and State Department, reported AFP News.

According to earlier reports, senior US officials had said that Saudi Arabia has taken the "strategic decision" to acquire "off-the-shelf" nuclear weapons from ally Pakistan.

"For the Saudis the moment has come," a former US defence official had allegedly told the Sunday Times.

"There has been a long-standing agreement in place with the Pakistanis and the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward."

The move was being seen as a way for Sunni Arab states, like the Kingdom, to safeguard against a nuclear Iran fearing the deal currently being negotiated between the P5+1 global powers and the Shi'ite rival will enable Iran to develop a nuclear bomb.

The India factor

Chaudhry even criticized Pakistan's nuclear-armed neighbour India for failing to continue with peace talks.

"Pakistan is open to continuing dialogue with India. The dialogue is suspended not because of us. It's because of India. But we have made it clear that to us the only solution to move forward is through dialogue," said Chaudhry.

"We want to have normalisation with India. There is no doubt in our minds. I don't see that consensus on the Indian side, I'm afraid to say."

Earlier India's Minister of State for Defence warned the world that the Islamic State (Isis) militants can acquire nuclear weapons from Pakistan.

"With the rise of ISIS in West Asia, one is afraid to an extent that perhaps they might get access to a nuclear arsenal from states like Pakistan," said Rao Inderjit Singh on 30 May, amidst the Shangri-La regional security conference in Singapore.

IS militant group had earlier said in their propaganda magazine Dabiq that they can acquire a "nuclear device" from Pakistan.

"The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilāyah in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region," read the article titled The Perfect Storm.