ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 18 (UPI) -- Pakistan has denied media reports that it had written to Nuclear Suppliers' Group protesting the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal.
"We have not written any letter to the NSG and reports in the media on the subject are wrong," said Tasneem Aslam, Pakistani foreign office spokeswoman.
According to reports in The Hindu newspaper Thursday, however, Aslam conceded that Islamabad was in touch with members of the NSG regarding the implications of the Indo-U.S. deal, as well as Pakistan's own nuclear requirements.
Aslam said Pakistan had taken a clear position on the recently concluded civilian nuclear cooperation pact between India and the United States: "Pakistan viewed the India-U.S. nuclear deal as discriminatory, and wanted it to be given as a package deal to meet its energy requirements."
Aslam maintained that Pakistan has close ties with a number of NSG-member countries, and interacted with them at various levels about their stance on the Indo-U.S. deal, but had not written any letter in this regard to NSG members.
Pakistan's position, Aslam said, is that 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, as neither have signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
