'Pak may accept moratorium on fissile material'

Washington, Jul 12: Pakistan would be willing to consider favourably a bilateral moratorium with India on production of fissile material, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mohamed Kasuri said.

Mr Kasuri said since ''our defence policy and program is driven by threat perception of India the logical answer to that question would be yes, we are willing to sign such a treaty''. He however hastily added that ''he is not a decision maker'' and that this was his personal view.

The Minister was replying to questions from the audience that followed his speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace yesterday.

Asked about Pakistan seeking sophisticated weapon like the Harpoon missile and F-16s, Mr Kasuri said this was for the security needs of the country. ''There is nuclear parity in South Asia but there is no parity in conventional weapons,'' he said.

''We cannot compete with India. It is a much larger country, with much larger resources. But in the interest of peace we have to maintain a minimum credible deterrence and we will just maintain that to deter India from aggression,'' he added.

On the US-India civil nuclear agreement Mr Kasuri said ''our position is well known. In our view a package approach would have been preferable in addressing the legitimate civil nuclear energy needs of both India and Pakistan.'' Mr Kasuri said his country should not be denied the same technology from the United States over a perceived view that it has a suspect record on the nuclear proliferation front.

In a bid to get a civilian nuclear deal from the US, Pakistan has said it was ready to permit foreign companies to invest in atomic power plants in the country and take back the unspent fuel to allay fears over proliferation. ''We are even prepared that they come and invest and take their unspent fuel back. Just give us the energy.

There is no case for not giving this (nuclear technology) to Pakistan,'' Mr Kasuri said.

''We are a declared nuclear power. Wherever I go, whether US or Europe, I will press our case,'' he said. He claimed that ''no harm'' would be done to global counter-proliferation efforts if Pakistan gets civilian nuclear technology.

Asked about Pakistan's former top scientist A Q Khan, who is now under house arrest after his global nuclear blackmarketing network was exposed, Mr Kasuri strongly defended his government's action in denying access to anybody to interview Khan on grounds of ''national sensitivity''.

He went on to say how Pakistan has ''genuine'' energy needs and hoped the United States would ''revisit the situation''.

''I have a feeling that in due course of time, since United States and Pakistan are very close friends, the US will revisit the situation. If the US and other countries don't offer us civil nuclear energy cooperation, our power generation will proceed at a slower pace and would be less cost-effective. We feel that, as our friend, the US should look at this again.'' He however claimed that even if denied technology and equipment, Pakistan has the means to develop them, but it will come at a price, he added.

Referring to Pakistan's contribution to the war against terrorism, he said the Bush administration had full knowledge of Pakistan's counter-terrorism efforts on the border with Afghanistan.

UNI

Related Stories