By IRNA
Islamabad : Pakistan said on Friday that the IAEA has informed the country’s Mission in Vienna that the Director General’s remarks about nuclear program safety had been quoted out of context.
Director General ElBaradei was quoted by ‘Al-Hayat’ newspaper that he is concerned that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall in the hands of extremists.
The Pakistani Foreign Office Spokesman said in a statement “Pakistan enjoys good cooperation with Director General ElBaradei and that is why we were both surprised and disappointed with the news story”.
“However, we have taken note of the clarification issued by the IAEA that the statement of Mr. ElBaradei was referring to the issue of instability in the Middle East”.
The spokesman said that the concerns about nuclear security were thus not aimed specifically at Pakistan but at directing attention generally to the need to bolster nuclear safety and security measures everywhere in the world.
He said Pakistan maintained good cooperation with IAEA and has confidence in it as an important UN body that oversees safeguard arrangements of civilian nuclear facilities.