Hillary ‘convinced’ that Pak aid won’t go to nuke programme

US’ chief diplomat also expressed the hope that dialogue between India and Pakistan would soon be resumed,a step that,she said,could result in reduction in tension between the two nuclear-armed neighbours and give a little more confidence to each other. “Over the medium term,we hope to see a reduction of tension between Pakistan and India.”

“With respect to the Pakistani nuclear stockpile,we are very clear,very firm and quite convinced that none of our aid will in any way affect the efforts by Pakistan regarding their nuclear stockpile,” she said adding that Islamabad’s nuclear deterrent is there as a backstop with respect to a much larger conventional force.

Senator Chris Dodd voiced concern about the possibility of US aid to Pakistan being used by Islamabad to build up its nuclear stock pile as reported in US media in the past two days. Clinton,however,asserted that is unlikely to happen.

Clinton sought to reassure the Senate,”We are absolutely committed not to seeing any diversion of our money or any use of it that would be other than what it’s intended for.”

“I think that there is no basis for believing that any of the money that we are providing will be diverted into the nuclear programme,” she argued at another Congressional hearing.