Pakistan says U.S.-India nuclear pact risks stability

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan criticised on Thursday a nuclear deal between the United States and Pakistan's South Asian rival India, saying Islamabad should be given access to civil nuclear energy to ensure balance in the region.

The pact, which has yet to be approved by the U.S. Congress, would allow India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment for the first time in 30 years.

The U.S. has already refused similar cooperation to Pakistan which, like India, has not signed non-proliferation treaties.

"The U.S.-India Nuclear Agreement would have implications on strategic stability (in the region)," said a military statement after the meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA), the body that controls Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

Pakistan first tested a nuclear device in 1998 in a tit-for-tat response to tests by India. The two have fought three wars since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947, two of them in the Himalayan territory of Kashmir.

"The objective of strategic stability in South Asia and the global non-proliferation regime would have been better served if the U.S. had considered a package approach for Pakistan and India," the statement on the meeting, chaired by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, noted.

It said the treaty would enable India to produce "significant quantities of fissile material and nuclear weapons from un-safeguarded nuclear reactors".

Among other things, India must negotiate an inspection regime for its civil nuclear facilities with the U.N. nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - and win approval from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group.

The meeting said the group should evolve a criteria based approach to enable Pakistan to access civil nuclear energy under IAEA safeguards to meet its growing energy needs.

"The NCA reiterated Pakistan's commitment to WMD (weapons of mass destruction) non-proliferation," the statement said.