WASHINGTON, March 22: As the Bush administration sent two assistant secretaries of state on Wednesday to Vienna to garner support for the Indo-US nuclear agreement, a senior official said in Washington that the deal should not be a cause of concern for Pakistan.

Apart from efforts to muster international support for the deal, the United States is running an aggressive campaign at home to convince sceptical US lawmakers of the merits of the plan, put forward by President George Bush.

In Washington, Under secretary of State Nicholas Burns, who was also the chief US negotiator for the nuclear deal, assured Islamabad that America’s nuclear cooperation should not be a cause of concern for Pakistan.

Urging the US Congress on Wednesday to approve a deal for sharing nuclear technology with New Delhi, Mr Burns declared: “India can be trusted.” Mr Burns said the Indo-US accord should cause no problem with Pakistan and stressed that the United States maintains good, although different, relations with Pakistan as well.

Critics, including former Sen. Sam Nunn, are sceptical of the agreement and argue that the deal would promote a regional arms race with China and Pakistan.

The deal requires Congress to exempt India from US laws that restrict trade with countries, such as India, that have not submitted to nuclear inspections.

Mr Burns said the administration takes the views of Sen. Nunn, who played a leading role on military issues in Congress “very seriously.”

But he insisted that “we’re far better off” having India submit to supervision under the agreement than having the country isolated.”