US rules out civilian N-deal with Pak
US  rules out civilian N-deal with Pak
Turning down Pakistan's request for a nuclear deal on the lines of India, the US on Wednesday said both countries have different situations.

Islamabad: Turning down Pakistan's request for a nuclear deal on the lines of India, the US on Wednesday said both countries have different situations and it believed in dealing with them in its own way.

It also expressed opposition to Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline in view of its concerns over the Tehran's nuclear programme.

Washington cannot extend the India-US nuclear deal to Islamabad as both countries have different situations and US believes in dealing with them in its own way, Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher told reporters here after holding talks with President Pervez Musharaf.

The nuclear deal figured prominently in Boucher's meeting with Gen Musharraf and Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri during which Islamabad made out a case for adopting a 'package

approach' to extend the deal to it.

Boucher said the nuclear cooperation with India is only in the civilian side and it has no connection with weapon production as argued by Pakistan.

He said Pakistan has enough hydel resources to meet its energy requirements and it does not matter from where energy comes, adding his country, however, will continue cooperation with Pakistan to fulfill its energy requirements.

Boucher said US was also opposed to IPI project and had its own concerns over it. "My country has some concerns on IPI, but we support Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline project, which can help in a big way to meet energy requirements of Pakistan," he said.

On Kashmir issue, Boucher said US is friend of both India and Pakistan and supports settlement of the matter.

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