WASHINGTON, Dec 18: The United States has no plans to offer a nuclear deal to Pakistan as the agreement President Bush signed on Monday was `unique to India’, says a senior US diplomat.
Under-secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, who played a key role in negotiating the deal, said that President Pervez Musharraf was not unhappy with the India deal, although some Pakistanis beneath him were.
“We've made clear all along that this is a unique deal to India only,” said Mr Burns when a reporter asked what it would take to offer Pakistan a similar deal. “This is an exemption ... we're making an exception for India only, and an exemption to the law for India only,” he said.
“India is a unique state. I mean, given the weight that India has, given the impact that India has on global warming, on air pollution because of its dependence on fossil fuel, from an environmental standpoint, an energy standpoint, this makes sense,” Mr Burns said.
He said the US wanted to free India of its dependence on Middle Eastern oil by offering it nuclear technology.—Correspondent
