Pak slams French nuke reactor sales to India

Pakistan criticised a multi-billion-dollar agreement finalised by France to sell twonuclear reactors to India, saying the deal would create"mistrust" and have "serious security implications" in South Asia.

Responding to a question on the France-India deal at aweekly news briefing, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit renewed Pakistan's demand to be treated at par with India inthe field of civil nuclear cooperation.

"We strongly believe that creating exceptions for any country is not only a step backwards in terms of promotingpeaceful nuclear cooperation, but it also has serious security implications at the regional and global levels," he said.

"In our considered view, country-specific exceptions are inherently counter-productive for these inevitably result in mistrust and non-cooperation," he added.

Basit contended there was "no tenable alternative to criteria-based approaches towards promoting international cooperation" in issues like civilian use of nuclear energy. There has been growing disquiet among Pakistan's civil and military leadership over the civil nuclear agreement finalised by India and the US.

Top leaders, including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, have demanded that Pakistan should be given a similar deal by the US in view of the country's growing energy requirements.

During French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to New Delhi, France's state-run Areva group on Monday signed a 9.3 billion-dollar framework agreement to sell two nuclear reactors to India.