Washington, Mar 10 (UNI) In a point by point rebuttal, non-proliferation lobbyists, who are strong critics of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, hit out at the Bush administration for what they called 'promoting its effort to carve out loopholes in longstanding US and international nonproliferation rules to allow full civil nuclear trade with India.' The non-proliferation experts, under the aegis of the Arms Control Association (ACA) put out their own fact-sheet today to counter what the White House sought to clarify in its yesterday fact sheet.

The ACA in a statement said the White House glosses over India's past nuclear wrongs, exaggerates the deal's supposed benefits, and downplays the possible negative ramifications of the deal as configured.

The White House will soon be seeking consent for its radical proposal from Congress and the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Given its far-reaching implications and the importance of improving US-India relations without undermining the global non-proliferation regime, the proposal should be fully scrutinised and honestly debated. It is up to Congress to protect core US non-proliferation values and security interests that are at risk, the ACA experts said.

The greatest fear that these experts foresee is the nuke deal would create a precedent that other countries might attempt to exploit. The United States may not advocate a similar initiative for Pakistan, but China might, they said.

China and Pakistan have a history of nuclear cooperation and have reportedly discussed ways to expand this relationship. China is a member of the 45-member NSG, which operates by consensus, and could tie its consent to the US-India deal to a similar exception for Pakistan, the ACA said.

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