Bush says "no" to giving Pakistan nuclear deal

PAKISTAN: U.S. President George W. Bush told Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf he opposed giving Pakistan the same kind of nuclear agreement just reached with arch rival India.

Bush told a joint news conference that he and Musharraf discussed the issue in their private talks and "I explained that Pakistan and India are different countries with different needs and different histories."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Pakistan had expressed an interest in a deal like the one between the United States and India but that "it's not the right time for that."

The India deal, announced on Thursday, marks a breakthrough for New Delhi, long treated as a nuclear pariah by the world, allowing it to access U.S. atomic technology and fuel to meet its soaring energy needs. The agreement needs approval by the U.S. Congress.

Under the deal, India agreed to separate its military and civilian nuclear plants and open the latter to international inspections.

For 30 years, the United States led the effort to deny India nuclear technology because New Delhi tested and developed nuclear weapons in contravention of international norms.

Neither India nor its nuclear-armed neighbour Pakistan has signed the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Pakistan watched the U.S.-India agreement with interest.

U.S. officials have said Washingotn will not conclude a similar deal with Pakistan, which is under a cloud because of the role of its top atom scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, in a nuclear proliferation scandal.

Rice said it should not be assumed that "everything we do in Pakistan is going to be appropriate in India or that everything we do in India is going to be appropriate in Pakistan."

She talked about clean coal and ethanol energy alternatives with Pakistan. Bush said he recognised Pakistan had growing energy needs. Asked if the United States would oppose a natural gas pipeline to Iran, Bush did not say no.

"Our beef with Iran is not the pipeline. Our beef with Iran is the fact that they want to develop a nuclear weapon," Bush said.

Bush said Musharraf brought this issue up with him.

"He explained to me the natural gas situation here in the country. We understand you need to get natural gas in the region, and that's fine," Bush said.

Bush left Pakistan an official said, wrapping up a landmark maiden tour of South Asia during which he also visited Afghanistan and India.

Bush and his wife Laura flew out of Chaklala airbase near Islamabad after a 24-hour visit, during which he praised Pakistan's commitment to the "war on terror" but said more work was needed to defeat Al-Qaeda.

"Air Force One has taken off," the Pakistani official said on condition of anonymity, referring to the US leader's plane. Earlier Bush moved to reassure Americans that broader ties with countries like India, Pakistan and Afghanistan will strengthen US national security, despite widespread criticism of a nuclear deal he signed with New Delhi.

"By working with these leaders and the people of these three nations, we're seizing the opportunities this new century offers and helping to lay the foundations of peace and prosperity for generations to come," the president said in his weekly radio address.

He said the nuclear agreement he had reached with India will bring India's civilian nuclear programs under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

ISLAMABAD, Sunday, Reuters, AFP