Indo-US N-deal threat to regional stability: Pak

Pakistan on Thursday cautioned that a civilian nuclear agreement between India and the United States will threaten regional stability, saying it will allow New Delhi to produce more atomic bombs.

Islamabad also said the strategic stability in South Asia and the global non-proliferation regime would have been better served if the US had considered a 'package approach' for Pakistan and India to prevent a nuclear arms race in the region.

The caution by Pakistan came at a meeting of the National Command Authority presided by President Pervez Musharraf. The Indo-US deal was among the issues discussed by the NCA, which is a committee of top military and government officials and scientists that controls Pakistan's nuclear and missile programme.

'The NCA noted that the US-India nuclear agreement will have implications on strategic stability as it will enable India to produce significant quantities of fissile material and nuclear weapons from un-safeguarded nuclear reactors,' a statement issued by the defence ministry at the end of the hurriedly called meeting said.

The NCA also voiced determination to maintain what it called 'credible nuclear deterrence.'

The statement asserted that a package approach by the US will promote restraint between the two non-NPT nuclear weapons besides preventing a nuclear arms race 'while ensuring that the legitimate needs of both countries for civil nuclear power generation are met.'

This is the first time that the NCA has met after India and the US finalised a draft agreement to operationalise the nuclear deal.

Pakistan's persistent appeals for a civilian nuclear deal with the US on the lines it had with India were rejected by Washington saying the case of two countries were different, especially in the context of disgraced Pakistan nuclear scientist A Q Khan's clandestine proliferation activities.

The NCA expressed satisfaction at the current state of Pakistan's strategic deterrence and expressed firm resolve to meet the requirements of 'future credible minimum deterrence.'

In an interesting observation, however, the NCA said, 'While continuing to act with responsibility in maintaining credible minimum deterrence and avoiding an arms race, Pakistan will neither be oblivious to its security requirements, nor to the needs of its economic development which demand growth in the energy sector.'