THE successive Pakistani leaders continuing calls for a civil nuclear deal, on the pattern of the Indo-US nuclear deal, is fast becoming a bad joke. The previous and present US Administrations have continuously and clearly been stating that such a deal was not feasible nor was the US thinking on these lines. Yet the Pakistani leaders refuse to accept the obvious and now it is being given out that China will back Pakistans demand for a civil nuclear deal with the US. Why would China do such a thing when it can help Pakistan itself and has been doing so in the civilian nuclear field throughout - and all of this cooperation is subject to IAEA safeguards? Ironically, just when Prime Minister Gilani was repeating the stale mantra of seeking a civil nuclear deal from the US at the Washington nuclear security summit, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Crowley, had already declared - in response to a question by an Indian journalist - that while the US was focused on Pakistans energy needs, right now that does not include civilian nuclear energy. So it is time the Pakistanis stopped degrading themselves by asking the US for a civil nuclear deal that will not come about - and if it ever did the conditionalities would be too costly for Pakistan to bear. In fact, the reality is that we do not need such a deal and instead we should seek more nuclear cooperation from friends like China. Even more important, if we are seeking Chinas help internationally in relation to civil nuclear assistance, we should seek it in the right forums. For instance, after the IAEA Board approved a special exception for India in its safeguards agreement, we should ask China to support a similar safeguards framework for Pakistan from the IAEAs Board, of which China is a member. Also, we should request China to support us in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in terms of getting restrictions removed on the import of sensitive and dual-use technology to Pakistan as has happened in the case of India with the support of the US. Our position is a principled one in relation to both the IAEA and the NSG wherein we are seeking a criteria-based approach rather than a country-specific approach. This is in line with Chinas diplomatic principles also. So these are areas where China can provide valuable support for Pakistans cause diplomatically. We should not squander a valuable allys precious support in pursuit of a questionable and unfeasible agenda of wanting a nuclear deal with the US. Already we have seen the nuclear conditionalities placed within the Kerry Lugar Act, which does not even relate to any nuclear cooperation flowing from the US So one does not need a high IQ to understand what the US would do to Pakistan in terms of conditionalities if it ever came around to giving some civil nuclear cooperation. Frankly, we should now simply refuse any form of nuclear cooperation or even dialogue with the US - the costs are too high for Pakistan.