'Indo-US nuke deal not to flourish an arms race'

Washington, Apr 28: The United States has reassured Pakistan that the Indo-US civilian nuclear energy deal only aims at meeting the energy needs of the Indian people and "this program does support for the nuclear weapons".

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns asserted that the overall US relationship with both India and Pakistan is going to be a force for stability in the region.

''The US-India civil nuclear deal is aimed at building a civil nuclear power to give the Indian people a chance to have energy, electricity production,'' Mr Burns said.

The deal, he said, would also help fuel the very rapid economic growth in that country and to accommodate the expansion of the economy that has to take place, particularly in rural areas.

Hence, the people of Pakistan should be reassured that this program is going to be positive for the Indians and would not harm its relationship with Pakistan, he said, while addressing a joint press conference here yesterday along with Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammed Khan, on the concluding day of the two-day US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue.

To another question on the civil nuclear deal with India, Mr Burns said, ''we believe it is in the best interests of India and the the United States, to help relieve the energy deficit that the Indian Government is facing. It's going to help the strategic partnership that we've formed with the Indian Government and is going to be good for all of South Asia.'' He also mentioned that ''we conveyed our position and whatever concerns we have during our discussions on the US-India nuclear cooperation agreement.

''Regardless of this agreement, I would just like to mention two points, and that is we want, of course, strategic stability in South Asia and we are not interested in any arms race, but certainly we can not be oblivious of our security requirements. Secondly, we have also a growing economy, and we have growing energy needs, and for that certainly the nuclear power generation is a very important option for us that we want to develop.''

On the Kashmir issue, Burns said the United States would like the Kashmir problem settled through a composite dialouge and US will extend its support to resolve the issue.

He also cleared that the United States will not act as a mediator. The United States, obviously, respects the considerable progress that's been made by the two countries in the composite dialogue led by Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Khan and Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran.

Saying that the US has ''an increasingly strong partnership with both the countries'' Mr Burns said the United States would be interested in seeing the impending issue resolved.

On this Mr Riaz Khan said Pakistan had been saying that there has to be a solution which is acceptable to Pakistan, to India, and most importantly, to the people of Kashmir. ''We have been saying that the Kashmiri parties should be involved in the process. Kashmiri leaders have been travelling to Pakistan and we hope that this process will be encouraged and it will supplement the negotiations in the composite dialogue which are going on between the two countries well as through other modalities and at the highest level; that is the summit level,'' he added.

On the sale of F-16s to Pakistan, he said Pakistan has made a formal request which has been forwarded to the US Congress.

''There was a delay for obvious reasons after the earthquake in Pakistan, but we've received the request of the Government of Pakistan to move forward. We notified Congress several weeks ago.

We've been talking to the members and their staffs, but we'll present our views formally and in detail to Congress very shortly, '' Mr burns added.

Regarding F-16 Mr Khan said, ''Due to funds constraint we have on resources, we have now far less ambitious package which, as I said, is a mix of some old, used aircraft and some new.'' To a question on what makes this dialogue unique and distinguished, Mr Burns replied that South Asia is facing a sevre crisis on political front whether its current trouble in Nepal, which seems to be heading towards a positive outcome or Sri Lanka where we hope to combine with the European Union, Japan and the Norwegian Government to stop the fighting and return the government and Tamil Tigers to negotiations.

Or else it's Bangladesh, where we hope that the government will heed our advice and arrest those responsible for the wave of bombings.

So this region of South Asia is very important to the United States and so is the its relationship with India and Pakistan, hence the just concluded dialogue, he said, adding Assistant Secretary Boucher is leaving tonight for a trip to Nepal to oversee the developments.

Burns further mentioned that ''we don't compare the relationships between the United States and Pakistan and India respectively.'' US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on her first trip to the region in March of 2005 we ought to de-hyphenate American relations with the two great countries of South Asia.

''We are a friend to Pakistan, we are a friend to India, and both are important to the United States. But the relationships, by nature, are different and there are things that we're doing with Pakistan in terms of our bilateral co-operation that we're not as advanced on with India, and vice versa,'' Mr burns added.

He said with Pakistan, we're very much focused on these economic opportunities and on the military and security cooperation that is so important to the United States.

Mr Burns also mentioned that he and Khan had discussed Iran, and made it clear that the US has no intention of using force in the area to resolve the issue and that there is no military option, and ''we have emphasised that we look up to the success of diplomatic efforts and that there would be a diplomatic solution to this issue,'' he added.

UNI

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