Pakistan said on Thursday that the U.S.-India Nuclear Agreement would have implications on strategic stability in the region as it would enable India to produce significant quantities of fissile material and nuclear weapons from unsafe guarded nuclear reactors.
"The objective of strategic stability in South Asia and the global non-proliferation regime would have been better served if the United States had considered a package approach for Pakistan and India, the two Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty nuclear weapons states," a Pakistani army statement said after the meeting of the country's National Command Authority (NCA).
The statement said that a balanced approach would help prevent a nuclear arms race in the region and promote restraints while ensuring that the legitimate needs of both countries for civil nuclear power generation were met.
The meeting, held to review matters related to Pakistan's Nuclear Power Program, also deliberated upon the U.S.-India Nuclear Agreement and other issues, the statement said.
The NCA reiterated Pakistan's position that the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) should evolve a criteria-based approach to enable Pakistan to access civil nuclear energy under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards to meet its growing energy requirements.
The statement said that Pakistan had always fulfilled all its international IAEA safeguard requirements for its nuclear power reactors, and was ready to accept innovative bilateral and multi-lateral approaches for the establishment of power plants under appropriate safeguards, including nuclear power parks.
While continuing to act with responsibility in maintaining credible minimum deterrence and avoiding an arms race, Pakistan would neither be oblivious to its security requirements, nor to the needs of its economic development which demanded growth in the energy sector, the statement said.
The meeting, chaired by President General Pervez Musharraf, was also attended by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the minister of defense, minister of foreign affairs, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, services chiefs, senior scientists and other civil and other military officials.
The United States and India reached an operating agreement on peaceful nuclear cooperation, according to a statement of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last Friday. However, details of the agreement were not available.
According to an agreement signed between the United States and India in March 2006, India would gain access to U.S. civil nuclear technology, while at the same time open its nuclear facilities to inspections.
