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No plan to extend deal to Pakistan: Burns

Washington: Even asPresident George W. Bush signed the legislation on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal into law, the United States has said it has no plans of extending a similar agreement to Pakistan.

"We've made clear all along that this is a unique deal to India only," Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said replying to a question what it would take to offer Pakistan a similar accord.

Musharraf not unhappy

Mr. Burns told reporters here on Tuesday that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was not unhappy with the India deal. "This is an exemption ... we're making an exception for India only, and an exemption to the law for India only," he said.

"India is a unique state. I mean, given the weight that India has, given the impact that India has on global warming, on air pollution because of its dependence on fossil fuel, from an environmental standpoint, an energy standpoint, this makes sense."

The U.S. wanted to free India of its dependence on West Asian oil by offering it nuclear technology.

123 agreement soon

Mr. Burns expressed confidence that the agreement with India under Section 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act, which governs nuclear commerce with other nations, would be signed in a "few months." "There are some countries — Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, the Nordics — that have had some questions. But we're hopeful that they will join consensus... We're working very hard to convince them that they ought to take international action that would be commensurate with the action that the President and Congress have taken," said Mr. Burns. "And I'm confident... the NSG will act."

`Larger story'

Refuting the argument that the deal would jeopardise the non-proliferation regime, Mr. Burns said, "All future civilian power plants to be constructed [in India] will come under safeguards. So we think in 10 or 15 years, 90 per cent of all India's nuclear facilities should be under safeguards."

Noting that there was a "larger story" to the nuclear deal than what met the eye, he said the pact was a strategic move to build a new relationship with India.

The deal was a "great event" marking a Washington-led effort to end India's nuclear isolation for three decades.

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No plan to extend deal to Pakistan: Burns

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