Washington, September 9
Rejecting Pakistan’s demand for parity with India in accessing civilian nuclear technology, the US has said the landmark accord with New Delhi was a “mechanism to deepen” further its commitment to international non-proliferation.
“We view India as an exceptional case, and see civil nuclear cooperation as a mechanism to deepen India’s commitment to international non-proliferation,” Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Robert G. Joseph said yesterday.
His comments at the House International Relations Committee came close on the heels of Pakistan Ambassador Jehangir Karamat remarks that Islamabad should have the same access to US civilian nuclear technology as had been proposed by President George W Bush for India.
Joseph said some countries had asked whether it might be possible for the US to extend such cooperation to Israel and Pakistan — the only other two (de facto weapon) states that did not join the NPT, adding India, Israel and Pakistan were each unique and required different approaches.
“Neither Pakistan nor Israel has a civil nuclear energy programme that approximates that of India. The US has no plans to seek full civil nuclear cooperation with Israel or Pakistan,” he said.
He said people had questioned the rationale behind inking a civil nuclear cooperation pact with India as it was not a signatory to the NPT and had asked why a cap on India’s production of fissile material for weapons was not part of the deal.
He said the US recognised that India was a special case and saw a clear need to come to terms with it.
“India has informed us that it has no intention of becoming a party to the NPT as a non-nuclear state at this time. Despite this, it is important to seize this opportunity to assist India in becoming a more constructive partner in our global non-proliferation efforts,” he said.
Joseph also pointed out that Pakistan did not have the same energy requirements that India did and cited, without elaboration, Islamabad “non-proliferation record”.
This referred to the activities of the country’s disgraced nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan’s network which secretly provided nuclear weapons technology to Libya, Iran, North Korea and other countries.
— PTI
