INSET
Islamabad ups efforts for NSG entry
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan asked NSG member states to be "objective and non-discriminatory" while deciding on expanding the grouping's membership as Islamabad stepped up diplomatic efforts to raise support for its inclusion in the elite 48-nation bloc whose membership India is also eyeing. Pak is wary of growing India-US ties
The Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that Additional Foreign Secretary (UN and Economic Coordination) Tasnim Aslam held a briefing session for the NSG countries' diplomatic missions here ahead of NSG plenary session this month in Vienna. It said that the briefing was part of the ongoing diplomatic efforts for mobilising support for Pakistan's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
==============================
Concern in Pak over growing Indo-US ties
Pak efforts on to stall New Delhi's chances of NSG membership
ISLAMABAD
Pakistan on Thursday expressed concern over "growing strategic ties" between India and the US, with a top official accusing Washington of using Islamabad "whenever it needs it."
The outburst by Sartaj Aziz, the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, came after the US strongly backed India's bid for membership to the NSG.
The US backing came at a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday during which the two sides also inked agreements to boost security and defence cooperation.
Addressing the media here, Aziz said, "The US approaches Pakistan whenever it needs it and abandons it when it does not need Islamabad.
"Pakistan will convey its concerns to US over the latest issues in the bilateral ties," Aziz said, adding that a high-level meeting was planned between Pakistan and US officials on June 10 in Islamabad.
"We firmly conveyed to the US that maintaining effective nuclear deterrence is critical for Pakistan's security and only Islamabad can determine how it should respond to growing strategic imbalance in South Asia."
Aziz maintained that Islamabad was ready for cordial relations with other countries including India.
Aziz's statement comes as Islamabad stepped up its diplomatic outreach among members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group in a bid to stall New Delhi's chances of gaining membership to the NSG.
The Pakistan foreign ministry's UN Desk on Wednesday held a briefing in Islamabad for diplomatic missions of NSG member-countries to put forward its argument against India's membership and to push for its own entry to the elite group.
At the meeting, Pakistan warned that country-specific exemptions could negatively impact strategic stability in South Asia.
Both Pakistan and India have applied to be members of the 48-member NSG that regulates global nuclear commerce.
..........
EU exit can split UK,
top leaders warn
AFP
LONDON
Sir John Major and Tony Blair warned a vote to leave the EU will "jeopardise the unity" of the UK as they campaigned together in Northern Ireland.
They suggested a Leave vote may re-open Scotland's independence issue and put Northern Ireland's "future at risk" by threatening its current stability.
But Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said support for the peace process there was "rock solid".
She said it would be "highly irresponsible" to suggest otherwise.
The DUP's deputy leader Nigel Dodds agreed, saying the ex-PMs' comments were "dangerous, destabilising and... should not be happening".
The former Conservative and Labour prime ministers, who were instrumental in the Northern Ireland peace process in the 1990s, hit the campaign trail there as Remain campaigners attempted to make the future of the UK a key question in the June 23 referendum on EU membership.
It was a message echoed by former US president Bill Clinton in an article for the New Statesman, who said he worried for Northern Ireland's "future prosperity and peace" if the UK votes to leave.
Chancellor George Osborne will travel to Scotland amid warnings that if the UK voted to leave the EU, but Scotland opted to stay in, it could trigger another referendum on Scotland's future in the UK.
But in a joint appearance, Sir John and Blair - former political rivals who led the country between 1990 and 1997 and 1997 and 2007 respectively - warned that the "unity of the UK itself is on the ballot paper" in two weeks time.
Sir John said there was a "serious risk" of another independence referendum and, if Scotland found itself out of the EU, he could "envisage a different result" to the one in 2014.
He argued that a vote to leave the EU would also risk "destabilising the complicated and multi-layered constitutional settlement that underpins the present stability in Northern Ireland" - a situation that in his words would be a "historic mistake."
Meanwhile, British voters were given more time until midnight of Thursday to register to vote in the June 23 EU referendum after the official registration system crashed in an unprecedented dash-for-a-vote.
The Cabinet Office issued a statement afternoon announcing the extension, which will require parliamentary support.
