WASHINGTON, March 26: Both India and Pakistan moved towards becoming de facto nuclear powers when they tested their devices in May 1998, senior US officials said. Briefing reporters about a proposed sale of F-16 fighter jets and even more sophisticated weapons to India, the officials also dealt with the issue of the status of these two South Asian states, who are not recognized members of an elite club of nuclear powers but possess atomic weapons.?At the point you start setting off nuclear weapons, a certain amount of de facto recognition occurs,? said one senior US official while responding to a comment that the proposed sale of sophisticated weapons to India and Pakistan could be interpreted as de facto recognition of their nuclear status.

The official, however, did not say if the United States favoured or opposed granting the nuclear status to India and Pakistan. ?I don?t want to comment on the formal diplomatic recognition of India and Pakistan as nuclear states,? he said.

Explaining his point on ?a certain amount of de facto recognition? for India and Pakistan occurring back in 1998, the official said: ?They tested seven years ago, nearly seven years ago. The United States has to live in the world that exists, not the world that we might imagine, we wish for; and in the world that exists these extraordinarily important countries have nuclear weapons and I don?t know of a single official in any country on earth who has realistically suggested that those weapons might suddenly disappear at anytime in the foreseeable future.?

The official said the US wants to work with India and Pakistan to make them take their global responsibilities more seriously.