Islamabad: US President George W. Bush's move to seek Congressional support for a plan to share civilian nuclear technology with India but not Pakistan could upset the balance of power in the region, the Foreign Ministry said.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Bush, who visited the South Asian neighbours earlier this month, should have offered both Islamabad and New Delhi similar deals to enhance their respective nuclear programmes.
The US plan will "only encourage India to continue its weapons programme without any constraint or inhibition", the ministry said in a statement on Friday. On Wednesday, a Bill was introduced to the US Congress on Bush's behalf that would exempt nuclear-armed India from American laws that restrict the trade of nuclear material and equipment to countries that have not submitted to full nuclear inspections.
"The grant of [such a] waiver as a special case will have serious implications for the security environment in South Asia as well as for international nonproliferation efforts," the statement said. Pakistan is a key US ally in its war on terror, but Washington is refusing to share civilian nuclear technology with it.
