No French offer of sensitive nuke technology to Pak

France has offered to aid Pakistan only in the field of nuclear safety and the proposal does not include any provision to transfer sensitive atomic technology or know-how,diplomatic sources said.

Recent talks between President Asif Ali Zardari and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy centred around cooperation only in the field of nuclear safety and no offer was made for transferring civilian nuclear technology to Pakistan,Western diplomatic sources,familiar with the discussions,said.

“It took almost 10 years to finalise the civilian nuclear deal for India when most countries did not have any concerns about it (in relation to the issue of nuclear proliferation),” a diplomatic source said.

In the case of Pakistan,there are too many concerns,the source said.

“One should refer to the statement issued by the French presidency,which clearly spells out the scope of the cooperation proposed by the French President.”

Following Zardaris recent visit to Paris,a spokesman for the French presidency said Sarkozy had “confirmed France was ready,within the framework of its international agreements,to cooperate with Pakistan in the field of nuclear safety”.

Senior Pakistani officials have been,however,insisting over the past two weeks that France has agreed to provide its civilian nuclear technology to meet its growing energy needs.

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In Islamabad,Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar referring to talks between Zardari and Sarkozy had said the French had “agreed to provide Pakistan civilian nuclear technology to meet its energy needs,not for military purposes”.

Diplomatic and official sources said the international community had numerous concerns in cooperating with Pakistan in the field of civilian nuclear technology because of the clandestine proliferation ring run by Pakistani scientist A Q Khan.

“The only known nuclear proliferation racket in recent years was run by a Pakistani scientist. The world community has not forgotten what A Q Khan did while he was an influential member of the nuclear set-up in Pakistan,” the sources said.

“There are also numerous questions about Khans proliferation network that remain unanswered they contended.

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Despite repeated requests from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the US,the Pakistan government has refused to give international investigators access to Khan. It has also described the proliferation ring as a “closed chapter”.

Since the signing of the landmark India-US civil nuclear deal,Pakistan has been asking the world community to give it similar access to atomic know-how and technology.

Any such deal would need the agreement of the powerful 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group and the 35-member UN nuclear watchdog,the IAEA.