WASHINGTON, Sept 9: The Bush administration used an open congressional hearing on Friday to inform Pakistan that it cannot get the same nuclear cooperation as granted to India under the Indo-US nuclear deal. The US policy statement came hours after a news agency published an interview with Ambassador Jehangir Karamat, saying that Pakistan should have the same access to civilian nuclear technology that President Bush has proposed for India.

Later, at a hearing of the House International Relations Committee, Congressman Dan Burton pleaded Islamabad’s case and demanded an answer by the two senior State Department officials testifying before the committee.

Both the officials — Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs Robert Joseph – told the committee that the Bush administration was not planning to give equal treatment to India and Pakistan on the nuclear issue. “In the context of providing full assistance or full trade on the civilian side (to Pakistan), that is something that we don’t think we are prepared to do,” Mr Joseph said.

Ambassador Karamat’s interview, given last week but published on Wednesday when the first congressional hearing on the US offer to India began, was seen in Washington as a bold diplomatic move.

“Mr Karamat perhaps also wanted to take the temperature of the congressional committee after the Pakistani foreign minister held the first publicised meeting with his Israeli counterpart,” said a diplomatic observer present at the hearing.

The two State Department officials, however, made it clear that Washington has no plan for extending nuclear cooperation to Islamabad.

They cited two reasons for Washington’s refusal: Pakistan does not have the same energy requirements as India and its nuclear power programme is not significant. The other reason was Pakistan’s “non-proliferation record.”

Explaining the Bush administration’s reasons for offering a nuclear deal to New Delhi, Mr Burns said: “India has demonstrated a strong commitment to protection of fissile materials and nuclear technology, and we believe it’s now time to end the isolation of India and to integrate it into non-proliferation norms.”