WASHINGTON, Jan 26: Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammed Khan stayed back in Washington to continue talks with US officials on the issues discussed during Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s visit to the US earlier this week, officials said on Thursday.
“It was a follow-up to the meetings the prime minister had here and to begin planning for President Bush’s visit to Pakistan in March,” a senior State Department official told Dawn.
Ambassador Jehangir Karamat, while confirming that Pakistan and the US had continued their consultations, said the foreign secretary had an extensive meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Nicholas Burns at the State Department on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the foreign secretary and the ambassador left for Pakistan for further talks. A Pakistan Embassy official said the ambassador had gone to “discuss arrangements for President Bush’s visit.
“The discussions included bilateral, regional and outstanding issues,” said the State Department official when asked if the foreign secretary had also discussed with Mr Burns the possibility of seeking civilian nuclear cooperation from the US.
Diplomatic sources, however, confirmed that Pakistan was seeking US cooperation for developing nuclear energy but pointed out that it was not linked to the agreement the US signed with India on July 18 for providing civilian nuclear facilities to New Delhi.
Last week Mr Burns held further talks in New Delhi on the deal, which was facing strong resistance in the US Congress with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers warning that the move could encourage proliferation.
On Wednesday, officials in Washington said that if India wanted the nuclear deal to be implemented, it would have to support US efforts for sanctioning Iran for its nuclear programme.
Mr Aziz, who concluded a 10-day visit to the US on Tuesday, told reporters that in his meetings with President Bush and other senior officials he also had discussed the possibility of seeking US nuclear cooperation.
Both the prime minister and the foreign secretary are believed to have told the Americans that Pakistan respected the US decision to “de-hyphenate” its relations with India. “But Pakistan also faces an acute shortage of energy and is already working on a plan to develop nuclear energy to meet this shortage,” said a senior diplomatic source. “They have acquired several plants from China for producing nuclear energy and are seeking US cooperation in the same spirit.”
But a Western diplomatic source said the Americans feel that the Pakistanis want to make sure they get everything that the Indians do. “See how difficult it has been for the Bush administration to seek Congressional approval even for India. Imagine how strongly the lawmakers would react if the administration seeks a similar arrangement for Pakistan, given its record on nuclear proliferation,” the source added.
While Pakistan and the US seem to disagree on the nuclear issue, both agree that President Bush’s visit to Pakistan would help “move bilateral relations to a higher plane,” as a senior diplomatic source said.
