India’s status as a nuclear pariah ended with the Nuclear Suppliers Group opening the doors of international commerce by granting the “clean waiver” the Manmohan Singh government wanted.
VIENNA: India’s status as a nuclear pariah ended on Saturday with the Nuclear Suppliers Group opening the doors of international commerce by granting the “clean waiver” the Manmohan Singh government desperately wanted.
It was touch and go for India till late last night but finally the NSG waiver has salvaged the Indo-US nuclear deal, which now faces its next hurdle at the US Congress later this month. For Prime Minister Singh, the waiver has come as a personal triumph, as he fought for the Indo-US civil nuclear co-operation written off by cynics within the country and the non proliferation advocates worldwide.
But Singh stubbornly persisted, helped along by US President George Bush who wanted a new strategic relationship with India to counter the growing military and economic clout of China in Asia. The deal was the centrepiece of this relationship, flogged by the US administration as strengthening the non proliferation regime by bringing India into the fold. Bush is keen to leave this as a bright spot in his otherwise unpopular legacy as president.
In an interview last year Singh had referred to George Bush as India’s best friend. The President called him soon after the good news came through from Vienna. Singh thanked the President for his help and his personal involvement.
The Prime Minister had sold the agreement as an energy pact which will provide India the electricity needed to sustain its 9 per cent growth. He believed that the energy mix would widen India's choice and help industry to generate jobs to lift India's teeming millions out of the grinding circle of poverty.
The re-worked text of the exemption document passed by the NSG is not yet available, though Indian officials insist it has come without conditions attached. The killer amendment which was brought in by Austria, New Zealand and Ireland on Friday was to include a paragraph about the consequences India would face in case of future tests.
New Delhi was willing to walk out of the negotiations rather than have the test clause included. With the opposition that the UPA government faces at home, agreeing to this would have been committing political hara-kiri.
“There is no explicit reference to testing in the waiver,” national security adviser M.K.Narayanan told a television channel soon after the news came in. Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee stressed on the same point: “I am happy to inform you that the final outcome fully meets our expectations and is consistent with Government policy and the national consensus on disarmament and non-proliferation. The NSG waiver is a unique development that has been achieved in accordance with commitments given to
Parliament and the people of India, and is consistent with India’s national interest.”
Pranab Mukherjee also thanked the United States, France, United Kingdom and Russia for their help through the entire process. He also thanked IAEA chief El-Baradei, a staunch supporter of the deal who helped the smooth ride of the endorsement of the IAEA safety document through the board of governors.
Saturday’s waiver came after the stiff resistance put up by a group of six nations at the beginning of the meeting in Vienna on Thursday gradually subsided. The six were Ireland, Austria, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway and Finland, with strong domestic non proliferation constituencies.
By late Friday only New Zealand, Austria and Ireland remained, the others had been reassured by Pranab Mukherjee’s stirring statement about India’s commitment to non proliferation. The statement was made to re assure the doubters that India took its non proliferation obligations seriously. The fact that India had a nuclear weapons program, had refused to sign the nuclear non proliferation treaty or the comprehensive test ban treaty but was still being rewarded had annoyed many countries.
But relentless pressure by the US finally broke down the resistance of the last three nations holding on to their principles. When the NSG members met again this morning the exemption was granted without further drama.
Without the arm twisting by the American it is unlikely that the exemption could be got. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, accused the US delegation of resorting to “some nasty threats, misinformation about positions and intimidation to try to wear down” the three holdout countries.
g_seema@dnaindia.net
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