Author: Reuters
Publication: www.expressindia.com
Date: November 27, 2002
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=17134
US Secretary of State Colin Powell
said on Monday he has told Pakistan there would be "consequences" if it
had contacts with North Korea. However, he added, he knew of nothing now
that could trigger sanctions on Pakistan over allegations that it aided
North Korea's nuclear programme.
"In my conversations with (Pakistani)
President (Pervez) Musharraf in recent months, I have made it clear to
him that any, any sort of contact between Pakistan and North Korea we believe
would be improper, inappropriate and would have consequences," Powell told
reporters.
"And he has assured me on more than
one occasion that there are no further contacts and he guarantees that
there are no contacts of the kind that were referred to in the article,"
he added as he flew to Mexico at the start of a two-day visit.
Pakistan has strongly denied a recent
New York Times report which said Pyongyang had provided Pakistan with missile
parts for Musharraf to build missiles to allow delivery of his nuclear
arsenal to "every strategic site in India".
In return, the newspaper has reported,
Islamabad provided North Korea with designs for gas centrifuges and machinery
needed to make highly enriched uranium for the country's latest nuclear
weapons project.
The North Koreans told US officials
in October that they had a secret uranium enrichment project for making
nuclear weapons, in violation of a 1994 accord with the United States.
Despite Pakistan's reported role
in Pyongyang's program, there is no indication US President George W. Bush
or the Republican-led Congress plan to impose sanctions or any other punishment
on the South Asian nation, which is a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism
in neighboring Afghanistan.
"Right now I have nothing presently
that has been reported to me that I need to be looking at," said Powell
when asked about the possibility that Pakistan's contacts with North Korea
could trigger sanctions under US law.
"And with respect to the past, I
don't know of anything that might be going on at the department that is
relevant to any sanctions discussion with Congress," Powell said.
"President Musharraf understands
the seriousness of this issue," Powell said, adding their conversations
have taken place face-to-face and over the telephone.
Musharraf, who has formally handed
power to a civilian government in Pakistan after three years at the helm,
is a key ally of the United States in its campaign against the Taliban,
al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden.
Musharraf has allowed US forces
to operate out of an air base in Pakistan and there are U.S. military and
intelligence personnel hunting al Qaeda and Taliban operatives inside Pakistan,
close to the Afghan border.
