ISLAMABAD, 27 March 2004 — Pakistan has welcomed the decision by the United States to lift the sanctions imposed on it after Gen. Pervez Musharraf grabbed power overthrowing the elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999.

“We welcome this decision and hope this is a precursor for the termination of application of this US law to Pakistan,” Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said.

The US imposed these sanctions under the Foreign Operations Preparation Act in 1999, most of which remained suspended or relaxed since 2001 onward. The sanctions covered the areas of defense and economic cooperation.

Khan said in the defense sector, the sanctions affected military financing and training, while in the economic area they affected economic activities under the US Trade and Development Agency, Overseas Private Investment Corporation and Economic Support Fund.

He said both countries were cooperating in the elimination of terrorism, as well as in the education and economic sectors. The decision indicated that relations between two countries were going smoothly without any hurdle, he added.

SC Asked to Produce FIR Against Nuclear Scientists

Maj. (Retd.) Islamul Haq, principal staff officer to Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, moved the Supreme Court to produce the first information report (FIR) against him and other scientists, including Dr. A.Q. Khan, in the nuclear proliferation case. The detentions of Haq, Dr. Khan and Dr. Farooq have already been challenged in the Supreme Court, and the government through the attorney general has been directed to submit a reply within three weeks to justify their arrests.

Chaudhry Muhammad Ikram, representing Haq, has filed another petition seeking the copy of the FIR that had been registered by Chaklala Police Station in Rawalpindi.

The petitioner has maintained that the accused and his lawyer have the right to be provided with a copy of the FIR.

The petition stated that family members of the detained scientists have frequently approached the concerned police station but neither the station house officer, nor the area magistrate, were giving them a copy of the FIR.

“The petitioner feels and believes that he is being denied the right to have a copy of the FIR on baseless and illegal grounds, and has moved this court as is his constitutional right under provisions of the constitution,” the petition maintained.