Letter bomb explodes on govt

US’ non-proliferation stand at home may queer India’s pitch for Vienna waiver

NEW DELHI: The controversy over the Indo-US nuclear deal refuses to die. The agreement is a deeply divisive issue in the country, leading to a breakdown of national consensus on foreign policy for the first time since independence.

And when California Democrat Howard L Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a known supporter of non proliferation, released letters written by the Bush administration nine months ago to the US Congress assuring members that all nuclear co-operation will stop if India went ahead with another nuclear test, all hell has broken loose.

The view that prime minister Manmohan Singh’s government had sold to the Indian people was that fuel supplies from non-US sources will remain even if New Delhi conducts tests. But the US state department’s take is different.

Revelation of the letter, which came days before the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting, will naturally encourage non-proliferation advocates within the 45-member group, which has taken a tough stand against a clear exemption. “The news from the US is likely to torpedo the waiver for India. It exposes Washington’s double standards — while professing strict non-proliferation at home, it is asking NSG members for exemption for India. This has not gone down well with several member states. They are in no mood to grant unconditional exemption and will not allow New Delhi to get away without giving a commitment on a permanent moratorium on testing. They will also want a ban on transfer of high technology and call for periodic review,” says activist Praful Bidwai. He believes that an NSG waiver without conditions is impossible.

But staunch supporters of the nuclear deal like K Subrahmanyam have a different view.
“The US has not said anything new, just re-stated what is already in the 123 agreement and finalised in 2007. The PM certainly did not mislead parliament. He spoke of uninterrupted supply of fuel for our civilian nuclear facilities. In case the US stops fuel supply, India can continue to get supplies from other countries.”

“What is the fuss over all this? I would also like to point out that the Hyde Act applies
only to the US and not to India. We will be guided by the 123 agreement, that has not become legislation yet, that leg will come after the NSG waiver. Once the US Congress passes the bilateral 123 agreement, it will supercede the Hyde Act, which has clauses of immediate halt to nuclear co operation. The 123 agreement allows for a year of negotiations before the final die is cast,” the analyst explained.

“I think the disclosures will help India and the US at the NSG. The US will tell countries that want similar conditions as the US Congress to go back home and bring in the fresh legislation,” Subrahmanyam added.

US ambassador David Mulford’s reaction to the Washington Post story, which raised the current furore in India, is pretty much the same as Subrahmanyam’s: “This letter contains no new conditions and no data which has not already been shared in an open and transparent way with members of the US Congress and the government of India.”
g_seema@dnaindia.net