PARIS: France [will go] ahead with the sale of a nuclear reprocessing plant to Pakistan, Presidential Palace officials said today [Aug 25]. The decision was taken by President Valery Giscard d’Estaing shortly before his Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, announced the resignation of his Government. During the meeting … French Foreign Minister Jean Sauvagnargues recalled the various reactions which followed France’s decision to sell Pakistan [the plant]. “The Minister stressed that there was no question of France, considering the controls to which Pakistan has agreed to submit, going back on its previous decision,” an Elysee Palace official said.

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Islamabad,] the Senate today [Aug 25] stamped its approval on the Defence of Pakistan (Third Amendment) Bill as passed by the National Assembly. The bill incorporates amendments in the Defence of Pakistan Ordinance, 1971 to provide … for right of appeal against final orders of a Special Tribunal in all cases under the Defence of Pakistan Rules. Amendments moved by Opposition’s Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani were rejected.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2026