WASHINGTON, March 30: The United States does not believe that nuclear sanctions can be applied to Pakistan on the basis of the activities of the now defunct network of nuclear proliferators, a senior US official said Tuesday.

"With respect to the Khan transactions, the answer to that is 'no'. And at this point, the evidence is not there to support it," said John R. Bolton, undersecretary for arms control and international security, when asked if the Bush administration was going to impose sanctions on Pakistan under the Symington and Glenn amendments.

Under these amendments, the US administration is obliged to impose extremely strict sanctions on a country that is considered a nuclear proliferator. Sanctions under these two amendments are among the strictest and can halt all economic and military assistance to the country sanctioned.

Mr Bolton was speaking as a witness at the House Committee on International Relations, one of the most powerful legislative bodies in the United States, on the Bush administration's non-proliferation strategy.

As soon as he finished his written statement, Congressman Gary Ackerman, a Democrat from New York and a known anti-Pakistan lobbyist, asked the US official: "Has the president made a determination of whether Symington or Glenn, apply to Pakistan?" "The answer to that is no," said Mr Bolton.