NEW DELHI, April 13: In yet another sign of growing differences with the United States, Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said on Sunday that Washington’s refusal to see similarities between the situation in Iraq and Pakistan was unacceptable.

Indian news reports from Ranchi, capital of Mr Sinha’s home state of Jharkhand, quoted him as telling reporters that Pakistan was not a democracy and it had a nuclear programme which the United States rejects, factors that make it a fit case for treating it on a par with Iraq.

Mr Sinha made his remarks as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, speaking in the Himalayan state of Sikkim, bordering China, declared that India wanted peace with all its neighbours, but “you need two hands to clap”.

Mr Sinha said: “Pakistan possesses and proliferates weapons of mass destruction. It is also expanding such weapons. It is for this reason that America has banned the Khan Research Laboratory which is at the centre of Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

“If the United States thought Iraq had a dictatorship, then Pakistan had no democracy. It is the epicentre and exporter of terrorism,” Mr Sinha said.

He declined to comment on a question about a widely-discussed pre-emptive action India could take against Pakistan, saying: “I do not announce actions through the media.”

However, Mr Sinha said there was regular firing on the Line of Control in Kashmir. He said a new strategy had been discussed during the recent internal security meeting to check infiltration and cross-border terrorism, but gave no details.

Meanwhile, Kashmir’s National Conference party, in opposition in Srinagar but an ally of Vajpayee’s ruling coalition, asked New Delhi to engage Pakistan besides initiating talks with Kashmiri activists, instead of talking to elected representatives, to find a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue.