ISLAMABAD, April 18: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi assured the National Assembly on Friday the present government would show wisdom and self-respect in its foreign and defence policies as he rejected media reports that the United States planned to post an official in Islamabad for having access to Pakistan’s nuclear National Command Authority.

In his first foreign policy comments in the lower house after taking office in the new coalition government 18 days ago, he affirmed Islamabad’s traditional position not to allow access to its nuclear assets to any foreign power while responding to concerns voiced by a group of opposition members in a call-attention notice.

In reply to a similar opposition notice, the minister also assured the house the PPP-led coalition government would guard national interests in dealing with India’s planned water projects on rivers flowing into Pakistan from the India-held Kashmir.The two call-attention notices took considerable time as the house skipped for the third day running the resumption of a debate on the prevailing power crisis in the country before being adjourned for a two-day weekend until 4pm on Monday. The next could be a historic and last week of the first regular session of the new National Assembly when the government is likely to bring a promised resolution for the reinstatement of about 60 judges of superior courts who were deposed under a controversial emergency declared by President Pervez Musharraf on Nov 3, 2007.

Four opposition members had sought the foreign minister’s comments about reports in the Pakistani media about what they called “placement of a permanent official at the US embassy in Pakistan to deal with Pakistan’s nuclear issues who would have direct access to the National Command Authority”.

“Pakistan will demonstrate wisdom and self-respect in its defence and foreign policy affairs,” Mr Qureshi said after repeating a denial by the foreign ministry that Washington had made any request to post an official for having access to this country’s nuclear issues.

He said he wanted to assure the house there was “no need for any concern” in the matter as no such thing had happened and no such request had been made.

“Pakistan will not permit any access to its sensitive issues like that,” the minister said although one author of the call-attention notice, Dr Attiya Inayatullah, still wanted the minister to be more forthcoming and assure the house that even if the US made a request for access to Pakistan’s nuclear facilities and the NCA, it would be rejected.It was music to many ears when the prominent member of the formerly ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) seemed to be distancing herself from the perceived pro-American policies of President Musharraf after being one of his ardent supporters by saying: “We all want America to be ousted from our internal affairs.”

The opposition too was equally surprised when Mr Qureshi seemed endorsing the previous government’s oft-repeated statements by assuring the house that “Pakistan’s nuclear programme is safe and in very safe hands”.

In reply to a question from another PML member, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, the foreign minister said Pakistan was following “the best practices” to address international concerns about its nuclear weapons programme by creating a structure for the purpose.

He recalled that Islamabad-based foreign envoys were invited to the Strategic Plans Division of the National Command Authority in January to allay concerns raised in the international media regarding the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.Responding to the second notice by a group of four PML members seeking his views on “the construction of controversial water projects by India on rivers Chenab and Jhelum”, Mr Qureshi said his ministry had been taking up the issues with New Delhi whenever it found Indian violations of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between the two countries, which allows India to use upsteam waters of rivers apportioned to Pakistan only for domestic use by the local population and non-consumptive power generation but not for diversion.

Reminding the house that a World Bank-appointed neutral expert had upheld three of Pakistan’s four objections to India’s Baglihar dam on the river Chenab in the Jammu region of Kashmir, he said Islamabad’s concerns about the Wullar barrage project in Kashmir Valley were likely to be taken up when Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee visits Islamabad for what is known as “composite dialogue” between the two countries.

The minister described the river waters’ problem as a serious issue and said: “If there had been lapses in the past, this government will not allow lapses.”