Senate’s Defence Committee Chairman Mushahid Hussain has said that Australia should treat India and Pakistan at par without any double standards on nuclear issue so that regional peace and stability could be ensured and the region may prosper.
He expressed these views in a meeting with Peter Varghese, Secretary Department of Foreign Affairs and trade, Commonwealth of Australia.
He said that Pakistan values its relationship with Australia and desires to further strengthen the multidimensional bilateral cooperation in different fields including trade, agriculture, education, energy and security.
During the meeting, Senate’s Standing Committee on Defence Production Chairwoman Dr Saeeda Iqbal, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar, MQM Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, PPP Senator Sehar Kamran and PkMAP Senator Abdul Rauf were also present.
The senators expressed their concern over Australian government deal with India on uranium and termed it a violation of previous pledges to promote non-proliferation, while treating Pakistan differently. “It seems that politics has won over the principles”, Mushahid remarked.
Varghese said, “Pakistan is an important country for Australia and we keenly desire to enhance trade and economic links with Pakistan for mutual benefit of the two sides.”
He also offered that Australia can assist Pakistan in coal sector to meet the energy demands. He agreed that education is a key factor in Pakistan and Australian relationship and promised to further explore new avenues of cooperation for mutual benefit. He expressed his satisfaction to visit Pakistan and said that such interactions would provide impetus to our bilateral cooperation in future.