15 January 2004	Thursday	22 Ziqa'ad 1424

ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: The Bush administration has made a comprehensive proposal to Pakistan for a strategic dialogue covering technical areas where the US has agreed to cooperate with India, informed sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

These areas include civilian nuclear activities, civilian space programmes and high-technology trade as well as missile defence. The US administration reiterated the offer to Pakistan through high level official contacts recently, the sources maintained.

"In-depth consultations on the areas with the focus on technical aspects and modalities are likely to commence soon," a source privy to the process told Dawn.

According to the source the proposed dialogue could be at both political and official levels, separately or simultaneously. On Wednesday a senior US administration official was also quoted as saying that the US was offering Pakistan a dialogue with the specific objective of entering into a strategic partnership with it.

This statement coincided with the formal announcement by US President George Bush of the US having entered into a strategic partnership with India to expand cooperation in three specific areas.

When Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan was asked to comment on the US administration's offer to Pakistan of holding a strategic dialogue, he said: "This has been a continuing dialogue for quite some time and we look forward to the US cooperating with us in similar fields."

Both civilian and military bureaucracy have welcomed the US proposal as a very positive development that could lead to a constructive and meaningful strategic cooperation between the two countries.

The closest to a strategic dialogue that Pakistan and US have had so far has been the peace and security dialogue, which started in June 1998 in Washington. The US offer of a dialogue aimed at a strategic partnership with Pakistan is widely seen as a logical culmination of the ongoing peace and security dialogue between Islamabad and Washington.

The US administration had briefed Pakistan about its decision to enter into a major strategic partnership with India in the last quarter of 2003 in Washington and Islamabad. Pakistan had serious reservations on this development. President Pervez also conveyed his displeasure on this front in an unscheduled meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell just ahead of his talks with President Bush last September. President Musharraf was then given the commitment by the US administration that it would soon make some concrete offer to Pakistan as well.