Pakistan on Thursday said its application for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group should be considered "simultaneously" with that of India on the basis of "uniform and non-discriminatory" criteria.
"The applications of Pakistan and India cannot be considered in isolation from the goal of maintaining strategic stability in South Asia," Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said at his weekly media briefing here. He said Pakistan was making efforts to muster support of the NSG members for its membership bid.
"It has been our consistent position that the question of NSG membership for non-NPT states must be dealt with in accordance with a single, uniform, non-discriminatory and fair criteria. Therefore, it is absolutely essential for NSG to consider the Indian and Pakistani applications simultaneously and in an even-handed manner," he said.
Pakistan's membership of the 48-nation grouping is in the interest of nuclear trading countries as it will further promote NSG's non-proliferation objectives by the inclusion of a state with nuclear supply capabilities and its adherence to NSG guidelines, Zakaria claimed.