N-deal? Look at Pak record, India tells US

‘Islamabad’s proliferation track record should be considered before any deal with it’

India today reacted sharply to reports of the US mulling a nuclear deal with Pakistan on the lines of the Indo-US pact, saying anyone considering a nuke pact should first see Islamabad's proliferation track record.

"We have seen these reports and it is not for the first time that this issue has surfaced. Whosoever is examining that particular dossier should be well aware of Pakistan's track record in the area of proliferation. And when India got this particular deal, it was on the basis of our own impeccable non-proliferation track record.

"That is the reason the US gave us the 123 agreement in 2005 and that is why we got an NSG waiver in 2008. Pakistan's track record is completely different so we hope that will be taken into account in making any such decisions," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan leaking the nuke technology to countries like North Korea.

Khan was one of Pakistan's top scientists and was involved in various scientific programmes there until his dismissal in January 2004 by the Pakistan government on the evidence provided by the US about his involvement in leaking bomb-making designs and equipment to at least three countries — Iran, North Korea and Libya.

Ahead of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to the US this month, a report in The Washington Post said the US is negotiating a pact on new limits on Pakistan's nuclear weapons and delivery systems, a deal that might lead to an agreement similar to the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

"Pakistan has been asked to consider what are described as 'brackets'," the report quoted a source familiar with the talks between the two countries as saying.

In a separate query on whether Pakistan had asked India for a meeting between the two Foreign Ministers along with the meeting of their NSAs as was proposed by India on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the spokesperson said, "Yes. There was an issue of sequencing... We are committed to the Ufa understandings.

"The understandings are very clear and that is two (Indo-Pak) National Security Advisors are to meet to discuss all issues connected to terrorism. The DG BSF and the Pak Rangers and the DGMOs are to meet to sort out the issues on the border. The firings and disturbance on the border...

"And we have said that we are ready for the NSA-level dialogue. Last time Pakistan walked out of it... but we are committed to this understanding," he said.

“W hen India got this particular deal, it was on the basis of our own impeccable non-proliferation track record.” VIKAS SWARUP External Affairs Ministry spokesman