PAKISTAN is going ahead with the construction of its third heavy nuclear reactor at the Khushab site at a much faster pace.

But it is amazing to note that Pakistan’s greatest ally in the war on terror, the US, instead of assisting Pakistan to cope with the ongoing crucial energy crisis, is clamouring that this reactor supports Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme and it should be halted.

The US has shown its apprehensions that Pakistan is increasing its capacity to produce plutonium at its Khushab nuclear facility and a greater danger would be that a terrorist could obtain nuclear waste from a Pakistani plant and use it in a conventional explosion to spread hazardous radioactive material.

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a private US group which is critical of nuclear weapons, has shown grave concerns on the rapid completion of the third heavy water reactor.

Where was such ‘farsightedness’ of these institutions when Indo-US nuclear deal was unveiled and was that a guarantee of peace and stability of the world? No, undoubtedly this controversial deal can cause a pyroclastic eruption in the coming years.

Pakistan is a frontline state in the war on terror and is extremely crucial for the US victory in Afghanistan.

Also, there have been no incidents of theft or leakage of nuclear material and equipment.

If the US cannot provide its crucial ally nuclear energy, like the one it has given to India, it should at least encourage the construction of such plants as the one at Khushab, which would give a new breath to the dying sun of Pakistan’s’ energy sector.

FATIMA NAZIR Faisalabad