Nuclear deal with India not a model to replicate with Pak: US

Washington, Oct 18 : United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher described the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement as "unique" which cannot be replicated elsewhere as a model.

He further said that the Bush Administration has made it clear that Pakistan cannot be the beneficiary of a similar deal.

"The agreement we have with India is unique to India, not a model for anything else," said Boucher at a recent Round Table on Pakistan.

The nuclear cooperation with Pakistan is "just not on the table," he said, according to a transcript released by the US State Department today.

Boucher's remarks came against the backdrop of repeated statements by the Pakistani leadership seeking a nuclear agreement on the lines of the Indo-US deal.

"We are absolutely committed to working with Pakistan on its energy needs. And indeed during the strategic partnership meeting we had with the Foreign Minister and others who were here, we talked about Pakistan's energy needs. We talked about how to improve the cooperation. And Pakistan's energy problems are also balanced by its energy potential," Boucher said.

Speaking about Pakistan's energy potential, the senior Bush Administration official said "a lot of that is in coal, particularly clean coal; a lot of it's in hydro power, in some of the mountainous areas of the country; a lot of it's in alternate energy wind farms and other things down by the Macram coast."

When asked about nuclear cooperation with Pakistan, he said "it's just not on the table."

ANI