"No justification," PM Shehbaz slams US sanctions on Pakistan's firms

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has condemned the US sanctions on Pakistan's ballistic missile programme.

Addressing the federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad, the premier said the sanctions placed upon our “National Development Complex and other entities have no justification.”

“Pakistan doesn’t have intentions to turn its nuclear system aggressive, it is just deterrence, nothing else,” said the PM, adding, “We will use this only for defence ourselves.”

Foreign Office had given a “comprehensive response” to this development, said the premier, adding, “and it is decided, neither mine nor cabinet members, but this programme is belonging to the entire nation which dearest to their heart”

“There will no compromise on it,” the premier asserted that “the entire nation is united on it on the matter.”

Prime Minister's statement came after a week of sanctions related to Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme imposed by the US, targeting four entities that it alleged were contributing to the proliferation or delivery of such weapons.

The US official also alleged that Pakistan could eventually develop capabilities to strike targets as far as the US. 

Taking an exception to the statement, the Foreign Office declared the US decision “biased” and rejected the allegations as “unfounded and devoid of rationality.”