Washington, June 25: The lavish praise and aid given to Pakistan suggests that the US is considering Islamabad's nuclear weapons capability as a 'fait accompli' and is now more worried about preventing control of the weapons from falling into the wrong hands, according to media reports here today. The praise President George W Bush lavished on General Pervez Musharraf, who gained power in a 1999 military takeover, and grant of USD three billion in economic and military aid for the next five years shows that Bush and his aides seem to regard Pakistan's nuclear weapons capacity "as a fait accompli," the New York Times said. Bush and his aides, the paper said, are again using the lure of aid and trade to help Musharraf "fend off" fundamentalists who seek an Islamic state with an 'Islamic bomb'.

"They are concerned about the general's control over his country's nuclear infrastructure - particularly the Khan research laboratory, which appears to be the source of aid to North Korea," the Daily said.

According to a senior official said recently, Musharraf's control "could be weaker than advertised."
"It is the country that worries US the most," an official told the 'Times' last week, "because it is the only nuclear power in danger of falling into the wrong hands". Bureau Report