ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani yesterday demanded a civilian nuclear agreement with the United States after Washington signed a similar deal with archrival India.
India’s landmark nuclear trade agreement with the United States should open the way for a similar deal for Pakistan, the prime minister said yesterday.
The US Congress approved the deal late on Wednesday ending a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with India, unleashing billions of dollars of investment and drawing the world’s biggest democracy closer to the West.
Critics say the deal does grave damage to global efforts to contain the spread of nuclear weapons, by letting India import nuclear fuel and technology even though it has tested nuclear weapons and never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Gilani said the deal should not be seen as a cause for concern. “You don’t have to be worried about it,” Gilani told reporters in his hometown of Multan when asked about the deal.
“Pakistan will now be justified to also make a demand for a similar deal as we don’t want discrimination,” Gilani said. “Pakistan will also now make efforts for a civil nuclear (deal) and they will have to accommodate us,” he said.
Pakistan, the world’s only nuclear-armed Islamic nation, is a key US ally in the “war on terror” but it remains at the center of global concerns over an international black market run by its top atomic scientist.
“You do not need to be worried, this is a step forward. Pakistan now will have the right to a similar civilian nuclear deal that India has gotten from the United States,” Gilani said. “We do not want discrimination. Pakistan will make efforts for civilian nuclear technology and they (United States) will have to accommodate us,” he added.
Gilani said if the US administration signs a nuclear treaty with India which is not signatory of NPT it can also extend similar treaty to Pakistan.
— With input from agencies
