According to reports in media a few days back, the two 'natural allies India and USA have signed a deal in Washington under which New Delhi would be provided the nuclear reprocessing facility which no other Asian country except Japan has had so far. This might be the single biggest development pertaining to South Asian region in the last week but the Foreign Office in Islamabad has no comments on it. This mysterious silence is in comprehensible considering the fact that both India and US have practically joined hands in blocking any deal of Pakistan in this particular sector i.e. nuclear reprocessing. Our old non-NATO ally US has no qualms entering into a civil nuclear deal with India but when Pakistan seeks a similar deal, it gets slammed with a blunt point blank refusal, more than once. The apologists of Washington keep saying it is on the instance of India which has cited Pakistans poor track record on proliferation and involvement of one of its nuclear scientists in nuclear tech smuggling but really this is a case of collusion between India and USA against Pakistan. If you need a proof of that look no further than the recent event of China making an offer to provide nuclear reactors in a civil nuclear deal so that old friend Pakistan could quickly do power generation only to see New Delhi and Washington again joining hands to oppose it. Washington has, in fact, declared it would move against a Sino-Pakistan accord on civil nuclear at all international forums. The formal signing of India-US nuclear reprocessing deal was an opportunity to hit back. The silence of Pakistan Foreign Office is inexplicable as it is mysterious. If Islamabad so much as seeks a pin for its military from the international open market, New Delhi raises hell all over telling the world it would be used in aggression against India. But here is India signing all sorts of deals to meet all its essential requirements and not a sound is raised anywhere. Pakistan must hit back, protest vigorously on appropriate forums and stridently question the consistently unfriendly, or in more blunt language openly hostile, acts of its so-called friend and ally, USA. At least keep the record straight. -AAMER A. NAJMI, Lahore, August 6.