Civil nuclear possibilities

Note: Since the nine eleven Pak-US relations have not been too much good as compare to earlier. Besides. India and USA have been good at relations as compare to Pakistan due to dr. Abdul Qadir Khan about the the Nuclear power allegations. Moreover, US gave civil nuclear technology to India, and it was a matter of serious concern for Pakistan. Infact, it was assumed that the US was discriminating both the countries in ties. However, now, after the visit of PM of Pakistan to USA, the ties have been much more good as compare to earlier, because Pakistan has got a chance to get civil nuclear technology from US as it is also said by UN Ambassador Richard Oslo. Further, it has also been clarified that the ties would have to be go on smoothly and productively. Bilateral relations will be proving beneficial for both Islamabad and Washington.



US Ambassador Richard Olson’s statement that the US is considering giving civil nuclear technology to Pakistan is a cause for celebration. This will help correct the popular perception that the US does not treat India and Pakistan equally. If things go as Ambassador Olson is hinting, any impression that Washington has been giving more attention to New Delhi than Islamabad will die a natural death.
Pakistanis felt cold-shouldered when the Bush administration entered into a civil nuclear deal with India, ignoring repeated demands by Islamabad to be dished a similar deal. Explanations by the US that our case was different from that of India were inconsequential. But largely the main fears of the Bush administration were generated by the discovery of Dr AQ Khan network. The revelation that he was engaged in selling sensitive technology to the countries desperate to use it against the western world raised hackles all around. The government’s side of the story that this was just an isolated incident, which in no way proved that the state’s institutions were complicit, were received with skepticism. As the US became less enthusiastic in security cooperation, much less a civil nuclear deal, critics at home fed off the anti-Americanism.
Now the very fact that the Obama camp is coming round to the decision that Pakistan might be given nuclear technology reflects it is ready to put its trust in us. Strategic angle is at play as well; it is evident that Islamabad may once again be able to recover its reputation of being a strategic partner. Hopefully, once the deal is functional, it will be seen as a formal recognition of Pakistan as a member of the nuclear club. Maintaining the delicate balance of power in South Asia is significant since usually both neighbours are in a constant state of a showdown.
But strategic games and angles apart, Pakistan is worried about its bankrupt economy largely damaged by the energy shortfall. And with all that it has done as a front line state, it ought to be given succour to be able to sustain itself.
Transfer of nuclear energy for civilian use will greatly help to provide the much needed electricity to the power sector, which notwithstanding payment of billions of rupees to the power producers seems to have gone nowhere.
The road ahead when it comes to Pak-US relations will be fraught with bumps and irritants – hawks might make any civil nuclear agreement look like a carrot being given to appropriate certain national security compromises -- but it must be traversed. Allies that fight common enemies and pursue similar goals, Washington and Islamabad stand to gain a lot from closer cooperation.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-ne...-possibilities