The United States may have undermined the Non Proliferation Treaty by its civilian nuclear energy deal with India, a top advisor to the prime minister of Bangladesh said.

• Support the N-deal

Bangladesh is wondering why the Bush administration "rewarded" India, which is not a signatory to the NPT and has developed nuclear weapons, Reaz Rahman has been quoted as saying in Monday's edition of The Washington Times.

"You have opened the door for people to say 'is the non proliferation programme valid any longer?'. Our concern is that we are willy-nilly part of this whole process because if it ever escalates, we will be decimated," Rahman told editors and reporters of the paper during a visit to Washington last week.

• Indo-US nuke tango

The Bangladesh official also pressed Washington to reduce tariffs on garments coming from that country.

Although Rahman played down the presence of militants in his country and the recent arrest of two top local terrorist leaders, Bangladeshi Ambassador to Washington Shamsheer Chowdhury warned that any rise in poverty could widen the recruiting pool, the Times said.

"In a scenario of layoffs and factory closings, these unemployed would be easy pickings for terrorists," the ambassador said.