Pakistan indicated it was open to a South Asian moratorium on atomic weapons production, but linked it to a "package" deal similar to the Indo-US civil nuclear pact.
"Pakistan has already made a proposal of strategic restraint regime in South Asia. These things can be discussed in the context of our proposal," Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said when asked about Islamabad's position on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's call for a South Asian moratorium on nuclear weapons production.
"And that is why we have also emphasised a package approach for the region," she said in an obvious reference to Pakistan's demand for a deal similar to the one US had reached with India on civil nuclear cooperation.
Pakistan's idea of a strategic restraint regime floated during the current round of composite dialogue process, was virtually rejected by India, which said its nuclear programme was not Pakistan-centric.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, meanwhile, said Pakistan was endeavoring to convince US to enter a package nuclear deal to maintain balance of power in the region.
If Pakistan was seeking a nuclear package deal from the US, it did not amount to begging but it was being done in the interest of peace and stability, he said Friday.
Kasuri said he had told visiting US Assitant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher this week that Pakistan "would like to enter into a package deal with the US in order to save the region from any disaster".
Apart from engagement with the US, Pakistan was asserting its own options by using diplomatic channels to approach the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Dawn daily quoted him as saying.
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