Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has indicated that New Delhi would not object to the United States and Pakistan having civilian nuclear co-operation since every country has its right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
"We would like to encourage civil nuclear co-operation, peaceful use of nuclear energy, as we believe every country has its right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes," he said in a media interaction. Mukherjee, who was in Washington to sign the 123 agreement with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on US-India civilian nuclear co-operation, was responding to a question about India's stance on Pakistan seeking a similar nuclear agreement with the United States.
Asked to comment on Pakistan's concerns on the implications of the US-India nuclear deal, he claimed there was no reason for any apprehensions and said New Delhi is following a composite dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues between the two countries.
"So far as the apprehensions of Pakistan are concerned, I can assure you we are determined to build a good relationship with Pakistan; and in fact we are doing so through the mechanism of the composite dialogue. We are addressing all the outstanding issues between our two countries," Mukherjee stated.
He said President Asif Ali Zardari's statement (on bilateral relations) following his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was encouraging. "And there is no reason for any apprehension by Pakistan-India's commitment to non proliferation is second to none; and we have in my statement of September 8 reiterated our continuation of voluntary moratorium which we declared in 1998," he said.
"In respect of civil nuclear co-operation between Pakistan and the United States, we would like to encourage civil nuclear co-operation, peaceful uses of nuclear energy as we believe every country has its right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes," Mukherjee said, when asked about the Indian position on Pakistan in future purusing a similar civilian nuclear co-operation with the United States or China.