Nicholas Burns, one of the architects of the Indo-US nuclear deal, feels that Pakistan cannot expect a similar pact, a day after its Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani openly demanded from the US such a deal.Burns also pressed for the speedy approval of the nuclear deal ahead of the IAEA taking up the India-specific safeguards pact on Friday for approval, saying it was “good” for both the countries besides helping strengthen the non-proliferation regime.“India’s trust, its credibility, the fact that it has promised to create a state-of-the art facility, monitored by the IAEA, to begin a new export control regime in place, because it has not proliferated the nuclear technology, we can’t say that about Pakistan,” said Burns during a panel debate on nuclear agreement at the Brookings Institution.After meeting Bush, Gilani demanded from the US a nuclear deal similar to the one Washington has forged with New Delhi, assuring that the nuclear proliferation network of its scientist A Q Khan was broken and will not be repeated.“There should be no preferential, there should be no discrimination. And if they want to give civilian nuclear status to India, we would also expect the same for Pakistan too,” Gilani had said.On the Indo-US nuke pact, the former Under Secretary of State of Political Affairs, who was the US pointsman for the deal, said: “My conviction is that this deal strengthens the non-proliferation regime. it makes India a stakeholder.”“I am for this agreement because it is good for both countries. The civilian nuclear deal is a symbolic centre piece of the bilateral relations,” Burns said.Burns also gave a Tehran link to the nuclear deal when he said a swift approval by the IAEA, NSG and the US Congress will send a strong message to countries like Iran “to play by the rules” and for strengthening the non-proliferation regime. In his formal remarks, Burns argued that the nuclear deal is good for American businesses, for the environment and above all sends an “important” message to countries like Iran. “If you play by the rules. there will be benefits,” he reminded Tehran.Burns, who was appointed as a special envoy to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the deal, also stressed that the US has in place “the right measures to protect” its interests by retaining the right to terminate the agreement. He asserted that the 123 Agreement is “absolutely” consistent with the Hyde Act.
