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Pakistan tells US it is willing to sign CTBT, reports daily

In a reversal of its long-standing policy, Pakistan has conveyed to the US its willingness to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty without any preconditions, reports a leading Pakistani newspaper, The Daily.

Quoting American sources, the newspaper said the United States had been given such an understanding days before the US State Department held bilateral talks with India in Washington on August 24 and with Pakistan in London on August 25.

According to the report from its correspondent in New York, Pakistan's foreign ministry has already prepared a summary report advocating the signing of the CTBT.

Distancing itself from Pakistan's past policy, the report argues that the country's national interests will not be compromised by signing the CTBT, rather it will relieve Pakistan from US pressure and will put India on the defensive. The US pressure will be diverted and focussed on India once Pakistan signed the CTBT, it added.

UNI

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