A senior Pakistani official has said his country will have to "reconcile with the reality" that the India-United States deal on civilian nuclear technology will definitely go through, though it may require a considerable amount of time.

The News quoted the official as saying after the visit of US Undersecretary of State R Nicholas Burns that India-US deal did come up for discussion on Saturday and there is no doubt that this agreement will go through.

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"Of course it is unlikely that if President George Bush [Images] comes to the region in March, this agreement would be ready. It will certainly take more time," he said.

Pakistan also feels that US-Pak bilateral relations should ensure that Pakistan is given a level playing field and such agreements in the civilian nuclear areas should be something for which Washington should consider Islamabad too.

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"Like New Delhi, Pakistan and others in the region are facing acute energy needs and we will ensure that we keep all our options open so that our growing economy can face the challenges of the future," he added.

Burns himself, while leaving New Delhi for Islamabad had said after his meeting with the Indian leadership there were "complexities" and "difficulties" in the civilian cooperation agreement, but the Bush administration would implement the accord.

Meanwhile, Pakistan also wants appointment of a full time foreign minister in India at the earliest.

"The foreign minister-level meetings give a political push to the process and an Indian external affairs minister is really needed," the paper quoted another foreign ministry official as saying.

With Natwar Singh, Kasuri had a good equation and they really proved that they could help push the process forward.

What everyone in Islamabad is hoping is that the Congress government would nominate some young person as external affairs minister than the ones that Pakistan has had to deal with in the past, the report said.