Pakistan warns against US-India nuclear deal
SINGAPORE: Pakistan has said a civilian nuclear energy deal
between its arch rival India and the United States would wreck
international agreements to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, the
Financial Times reported on Friday.
The daily quoted Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri
as saying that the U.S. decision to give nuclear technology to India -
which like Pakistan has a military nuclear programme - would encourage
other nations to follow suit.
"The whole Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty will unravel. It's only a
matter of time before other countries will act in the same way," Kasuri
told the Financial Times in an interview.
"Nuclear weapons are the currency of power and many countries would
like to use it. Once this goes through, the NPT will be finished. It's
not just Iran and North Korea. Brazil, Argentina and Pakistan will think
differently," he said.
Under the pact clinched during President George W. Bush's visit to
India in early March, New Delhi is to receive U.S. nuclear technology -
including reactors and nuclear fuel - in return for separating its
military and civil facilities and opening the civilian plants to
international inspections.
Washington has refused to extend the same cooperation to Pakistan,
with Bush saying the two countries have "different needs and different
histories."
The United States has been concerned about weapons proliferation by
Pakistan after its top scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, admitted in 2004 to
selling nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
But analysts say that the growing U.S.-India strategic ties could
encourage Pakistan to seek a similar relationship with traditional ally
China.
"The U.S. should be conscious of the sentiments of this country.
Public opinion sees things in black and white.
They compare the U.S. to China and feel it has not been a constant
friend the way China has," Kasuri said.
Kasuri said the United States should not be treating the two
countries differently.
"We demand equality of treatment and we will continue to pursue it.
We have a large population and a fast-growing economy. If the Indian
deal goes through, there are some things we will do," he said, without
elaborating. Singapore, Friday, Reuters |