Pak nudges US

Looks like Pakistan is doing everything in its might to urge US Congress to call off the Indo-US N-deal, writes Meenakshi Iyer.

"Either Pakistan gets the same deal… or it does everything it can to ensure that the Bush administration's deal with India does not go through, or is at least amended by Congress in such a manner that India refuses to accept it."

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A leading daily in Pakistan had rightly analysed the implications of the Indo-US nuclear deal for Islamabad.

That Pakistan is not happy with the deal is quite apparent and it is doing everything in its might to urge US Congress to call off the agreement.

"We… take this opportunity to urge the United States…to analyse the Indian ambitions and understand the far-reaching implications of its civil nuclear deal with New Delhi," Pak Observer says in its editorial.

According to Pak media, India is just using Uncle Sam to be a nuclear hegemon in South Asia. As it says, "India wants to fine tune its nuclear weapons technology by utilising the US nuclear expertise".

India had recently rejected America's call to define its credible minimum deterrent and it also refused to make explicit commitment to the US not to conduct fresh nuclear tests.

India's refusal to put its foot down has further given a chance to Pakistan to up the ante in its favour.

"India's refusal to define its 'minimum credible nuclear deterrent' has substantiated the apprehensions prevailing in US and the world over that New Delhi may divert the facility and material provided by the US…for military purposes," the Pak Observer explains.

Calling the agreement as a "deal concluded in haste" the paper says that Bush's administration has committed a blunder.

In an apparent reference to India-Iran relations, the paper says: "Washington is betting on the wrong horse. If its past record is any clue then India will never wag its tail for US global strategy".

India "has also developed huge nuclear network that includes its cooperation with Iran to help initiate its nuclear programme… It's, therefore, time that the US…should evaluate the Indian attitude objectively by rising above the China factor of its global agenda," the Observer says.

Analysts world over believe that the US and India have joined hands to counter China. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rubbished the belief saying that the relationship is not aimed at China.

"...We are not developing our relationship with the US at the cost of our relationship with China, which is our neighbour and with which our trade is growing at a handsome rate... President Bush told me this is a sensible way to proceed, and that America will remain engaged with China, too," he said.

China, like its close ally Pakistan, has condemned the Indo-US deal saying that New Delhi is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

India has so far refrained from signing the treaty, which it says is 'discriminatory' in terms of setting different rights and obligations between the five nuclear 'haves' and 'have-nots'.

Both Islamabad and Beijing believe that the deal can very well upset the balance of power in South Asia.

"India's nuclear ambitions are motivated by its design to dominate the regional countries militarily that is bound to generate nuclear arms race in the region. And that will be a suicidal path for South Asia," the Observer explains.