The draft of India’s safeguards agreement with the IAEA, which caused so much heartburn in the BJP and Left that they got together to try and bring down the government, is also causing immense concern in Pakistan — for diametrically the opposite reasons.

While the Left and the BJP were united in their claim that the government was bartering away India’s sovereignty through the safeguards agreement, Islamabad is of the view that it not only acknowledges India’s status as a nuclear weapons state, but also makes a unique “discriminatory and dangerous” exemption for India.

In a letter to the IAEA Board of Governors (BoG), of which Pakistan is also a member, Islamabad’s permanent representative at Vienna has said that the Board was being asked to “recognise and accept India’s nuclear weapon status”. “The draft accords recognition to India as a country with ‘advanced nuclear technology’, despite the fact that there is no agreed definition of an advanced nuclear technology state,” it says.

The letter was circulated to the Board members just a few days ago as Pakistan stepped up efforts to block the approval of the safeguards agreement draft by the Board of Governors, which decides by consensus. Hectic diplomacy is on with the US trying to persuade Pakistan to see reason and not stand in the way.

Citing rules and the unique nature of this agreement, Pakistan has questioned the efforts to “rush through” the process of approval by the Board and NSG. In the letter, it says there was “no good technical or substantive reasons” for the Board to waive off the 45-day period before it can be considered for approval.

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