Nuke energy not on platter for Pak: US
Washington: The US, which signed a nuclear
agreement with India last year, is not considering the option
of providing atomic energy to Pakistan as part of its efforts
to resolve the energy-crisis in the country.
A high-profile US team which went to Islamabad recently
to discuss energy issues with Pakistan's officials did not
discuss the option of civilian nuclear energy, David Goldwyn,
coordinator for international energy affairs at the State
Department told foreign journalists here.
"We spent two days in very intensive talks with the
government of Pakistan on whole range of energy issues, but
they did not raise nuclear energy, so we did not discuss it,"
Goldwyn said.
The reasons, experts say, are obvious, given Pakistan's
proliferation record and the fact that the country's nuclear
scientist A Q Khan led a network which spread nuclear
technology to rogue nations like N Korea.
Ever since India and the US inked the civilian nuclear
agreement last year, Pakistan has been demanding a pact on
similar lines.
However, the US has ruled out any such possibility, with
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asserting in her major
speech on nuclear non-proliferation last month that there can
be no template of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.
Bureau Report