Why US will reject Pak's N-deal bid

In the coming week, the United States and Pakistan will hold their third strategic dialogue since March this year and Pakistan is all set to renew its attempt to push for a civilian nuclear deal with Washington. The demand for a nuclear deal may only add further strain to the relationship between the two nations, which is already on the rocks because of Islamabad's refusal to act against Taliban havens on its soil, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

According to officials from high-profile Pakistani delegation, they will push for the deal -- on the lines of the one the US concluded with India in 2008 -- during a meeting on October 22 in Washington headed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Islamabad looks at this nuclear pact as a vital compromise only to show that Pakistan is no different from Indian in the eyes of the US, the WSJ reported. However, the US in unlikely to give in to this demands, its major concern being Pakistan's history of proliferation and continued strengthening of its nuclear weapons.

New satellite images, taken in September and published last week by the Institute for Science and International Security, a non-government US-based nuclear research body, show Pakistan is racing to complete its Khushab military nuclear facility in Punjab province despite the floods, which caused colossal damage to its economy. 

"Pakistan will always spend whatever it takes to build up as many nuclear weapons as possible" due to animosity toward India, said George Perkovich, director of the nuclear policy programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US-based think tank.

US President Barack Obama will travel to India in the first week of November and any signs of engagement with neighbours, especially on nuclear issues, is likely to mar the trip. Moreover, US officials are angered over Pakistan's decision to block the treaty to ban the production of weapons-grade fissile material at the United Nations earlier this year.

But Pakistan is convinced that it should be given a go ahead to build up its nuclear weapons to counter the Indian armed forces since India's civilian-nuclear deal has given it an unfair advantage. However, the Pakistan delegation visiting Washington does not have its hopes high.

A Pakistani official said the delegation will raise the issue of a US civilian nuclear deal next week but that "expectations are very low." The US, the Pakistani official said, "considers India its biggest ally. That's why our demand is rejected."