BJP apprehends US may sign civil nuclear deal with Pak

BJP today termed as "highly disturbing" reports that US may sign a civil nuclear deal with Pakistan and said the Obama administration should ensure its funds are not siphoned off to anti-India terror groups.

"A highly disturbing news coming on the eve of the Nuclear Security Summit to be hosted by president Barack Obama in Washington on April 12 and 13 is that the so called civil nuclear deal that US has inked with India may be inked with Pakistan too," BJP spokesperson Tarun Vijay said.    

The BJP regretted that both India - a victim of terror, and Pakistan - "the perpetrator", would be treated at par at the Washington summit.

In the light of these developments, BJP has demanded that the Prime Minister assure Parliament about his plans for the meet.

"We only hope that Dr Manmohan Singh's Washing on visit in April to attend the summit does not create a scene of another shameful yielding to the foreign pressure like we saw in Sharm-el Sheikh that was later nauseatingly visible in the India-Pakistan foreign secretary-level talks," Vijay said.    

Terming the amount of US aid to Pakistan to fight Afghan Taliban and other terrorist groups as "mind-blowing", Vijay said the use of these funds needs to be closely monitored. 

"It is imperative for India, surrounded by two hostile nuclear  powers, to demand that US must assure India that its billions will not, in any situation whatsoever, fall in the hands of terror groups working against us. We need a fool-proof mechanism to get convinced of US monitoring of its aid to Islamabad," he said.

Vijay noted that US aid to Pakistan will be $1.5 billion a year for the next five years. 

"Over the past decade US has given over $12bn in cash directly to (Pakistan) military to subsidise the costs of fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida," he said.

The program to train the Frontier Corps is estimated to be worth $400m more over several years, he said, adding Pakistan has a history of facilitating terrorist groups using US dollars.

"US has a responsibility to assure India about the tight monitoring of its billions to a fluid state like Pakistan and assure regular report to us on it," Vijay insisted. 

He accused US of "solely concentrating on the western front" while ignoring Pakistan's support to terror groups working against India.

"If US let down India on Headley case, South 'Sharm-el Shaikh' Block too has let Indians down by its sheer lackadaisical attitude on security and war on terror," Vijay said.

He charged US of duplicity in its war against terror which "is in fact making India more vulnerable to Pakistan-based and state-supported terror groups".

"But ultimately it is our war, and Obama is the president of his country. Why should we be playing second fiddle to US interests?" Vijay said.

BJP maintained that US was aware of Pakistan being an unreliable nuclear state, which has been in the forefront of
nuclear proliferation and is vulnerable to nuclear pilferage
by "non-state actors".

"Still Pakistan continues to play 'help me to help you' card using Taliban to garner billions from Washington," Vijay said.