PAKISTANI REACTION TO THE INDIA-IAEA SAFEGUARD

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISLAMABAD 002457 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2018 TAGS: PGOV PK PREL PARM ETTC SUBJECT: PAKISTANI REACTION TO THE INDIA-IAEA SAFEGUARD AGREEMENT REF: STATE 74896 Classified By: Anne W. Patterson, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) On July 21, Ambassador raised with FM Qureshi USG concern that Pakistan was blocking IAEA action on the proposed India Safeguard Agreement. She noted that the Pakistani Embassy in Vienna had circulated a fax to other missions insisting that the Agreement be subject to a 45-day review, thereby preventing approval before the September IAEA Board Meeting. Qureshi appeared unaware of the issue but promised to check into it. ¶2. (C) Separately, Pakistan People's Party leader Asif Zardari noted to Ambassador in a phone call that his government had not been briefed on the Nick Burns-FS Khan agreement that Pakistan would not publicly criticize the U.S.-India nuclear deal. It was unfair, Zardari said, to accuse the current GOP of not complying with an agreement made by the previous government, especially when the new government was not aware of that agreement. Ambassador noted that this was a fair point but urged that the GOP not take action to undermine the deal. ¶3. (C) On July 17, POLOFF delivered reftel points to Kamran Akhtar, Director of Disarmament for the MFA, urging support for the India-IAEA Safeguard Agreement. Akhtar quickly noted that Pakistan does not support such an agreement. In Akhtar's words, the GOP sees this agreement as a grave deviation from the usual IAEA practices and norms, which sets a new, discriminatory model when applied to all relevant members. If this agreement was to just be a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and India, the GOP would not have a problem, but when it is coming from the IAEA, Akhtar believed a dangerous precedent was being set. Akhtar assured Poloff that the agreement was being examined, and if further or contrary reactions are reached, they would be accordingly passed along. ¶4. (C) Post will follow up with MFA Disarmament on IAEA action, noting that in the past the U.S. supported Pakistan in approving its own Safeguard Agreement for the Chasma reactor within 72 hours. PATTERSON