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US expected to pressurise Pakistan on nuclear pact during Sharif visit

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

ISLAMABAD, OCT 24: Beleagured Pakistan, with a crisis-ridden economy, is expected to come under severe pressure from the United States to accept a global pact on nuclear test ban and a moratorium on fissile material production during premier Nawaz Sharif's visit to Washington in December.

Sharif has been invited by American President Bill Clinton for a two-day visit to discuss various issues which may be mainly centered around US concerns for nuclear non-proliferation issues in South Asia in the wake of nuclear tests by India and Pakistan in May, media reports here said.

A formal invitation to Sharif from the White House for the official working visit has already been sent and it is expected that it will be delivered to the Pakistani government by the US Ambassador here, English daily The News said.

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed will be visiting Washington in the middle of November to hold a final round of continuing dialogue with American Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott aswell as to do the groundwork for Sharif's visit, it said.

``This is part of our continuing bilateral dialogue with Pakistan but it could be considered a preparation for the prime minister's visit also because all these issues will be on the agenda (of prime minister's meeting with Clinton),'' a US administration official was quoted as saying in Washington by The News.

The issues, which have been under discussion in recent months between American and Pakistani negotiators, include Islamabad's signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and committing to a moratorium on fissile material production.

The US has been pressing both India and Pakistan to sign and ratify the CTBT and also stop the production of fissile materials in an attempt to promote nuclear non-proliferation in South Asia, and Talbott has held a series of meetings with officials of both the countries in the wake of their nuclear tests.

It is expected that Sharif's meeting with Clinton may be the climax of these negotiations asthe latter is now equipped with an authority by the Congress to lift economic sanctions imposed on both the countries and Pakistan is in a desperate situation to get some economic bail-out package to save its sinking economy.

The meeting between Clinton and Sharif is expected to take place between December 1 and 3 and ``the talks with Clinton would include the whole gamut of bilateral issues between the United States and Pakistan and the South Asian regional situation,'' The News said.

Pakistan's economy is already on the verge of collapse as its foreign exchange reserve has dipped to barely 500 million dollar and it has already defaulted on its debt repayment commitments.

If immediate financial bail-out package was not provided, observers feel the country will slump to its worst ever economic crises in its 50 years of existence.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also held back the revival of a 1.56 billion dollar soft loan package in view of the Sharif government's actions against someWorld Bank funded independent power producers in Pakistan.

Incidentally, Sharif during his address to the UN General Assembly last month had clearly said that Pakistan was ready to adhere to CTBT by September 1999 but linked his country's adherence with that of India's stand on it.

He also demanded that Pakistan should be treated equally with India on this issue.

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