From The Hindu Archives, February 27, 1976 | Nuclear plant: Pak. refuses to give guarantees to Canada

Washington, Feb. 26: Pakistan has told Canada that it cannot permit the latter to have a say in how Pakistan operates a nuclear reprocessing plant it is buying from France. Canada, it seems, wants to be assured that Pakistan will not use the nuclear wastes produced by its Canadian supplied reactor in the French plant to make weapons-grade plutonium. After inconclusive discussions on the subject with Premier Trudeau of Canada, the Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr. Z.A. Bhutto, told a news conference in Ottawa: “We are prepared to consider adequate safeguards but we do not want to be tied body and soul to it. We cannot see Canada imposing safeguards on a reprocessing plant.” Though Mr. Bhutto also said: “We are not interested in making explosions,” Canada and the U.S. suspect that Pakistan’s only motive in acquiring an expensive and unviable reprocessing plant from France is to make atomic bombs.