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U.S. Nuclear Deal Faces More Questions in India
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to face criticism this week when he updates his country’s Parliament on the civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States, Channel NewsAsia reported (see GSN, Aug. 1). Indian lawmakers have argued that a bill passed last week by the U.S. House of Representatives contains unfair conditions on the agreement (see GSN, July 27). “There are a number of humiliating conditions that have been incorporated in the House of Representatives bill,” said former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha. “It requires India to be subjected to the oversight of the U.S. Congress on an annual basis, it threatens India that if India were ever to deviate or explode a nuclear device, then the deal would be off … all the supplied will not only be stopped from the U.S., but the U.S. will work with allies to stop supplies to India. These are conditions which no sovereign nation can accept.” Opponents of the deal have argued that it forces India to give away its rights, and that it is not in New Delhi’s best interests. “The July 18 statement says India has to agree to negotiate with the U.S. a fissile [material] cutoff treaty. (This) means that no matter how many reactors we keep unsafeguarded in the military sector, once the FMCT comes in, we won’t be able to produce fissile material,” said Bharat Karnad, a defense analyst at the Center for Policy Studies in New Delhi (Channel NewsAsia, Aug. 2). The Bush administration is working with the Senate to schedule a vote on legislation that would enable to deal to go through, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday. “There are things that the Indian side has to do as well, so we’re moving along here. The House has passed the bill. We’re working with the Senate to get a vote scheduled and then there’s gong to have to be a conference and they’re going to have to pass, finally, some legislation,” he said. “So there’s still steps to be taken here, but we’ve come a long way and we are fully supportive and fully behind seeing this agreement being implemented” (U.S. State Department briefing, Aug. 2).
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