KashifAsrar
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Todays update news in ToI, dated 23 April 2007.
Kashif
âWe Cannot Accept The Deal Under These Conditionsâ
Indrani Bagchi | TNN
New Delhi: The odds are lengthening against the India-US nuclear deal, and under the existing circumstances its prospects appear bleak. As the two countries battle a stalemate in the negotiations on the ââ123ââ agreement, it has become clear that the US cannot extend nuclear cooperation to India the way it was promised in the July 18 and March 2 joint statements, and India cannot accept anything less.
A high-level source in the Indian government told TOI, ââWe cannot accept the deal under these conditions.ââ
As foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon embarks on a last-ditch bid to salvage the deal in a weekâs time, it is being recognised that the US is in no mood to concede Indiaâs stance on the three critical issues of reprocessing, testing and fuel guarantees. While the Bush administration has not publicly hardened its stance as yet, the increasingly shrill comments by senior US officials in the US media are being seen as reflecting their insistence that India must come around. What started off as individual laments has become a refrain.
At this end, the government is determined not to make any concession beyond what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid out in Parliament.
There is a hope that a Manmohan-Bush session can resolve the logjam. But here too, there are limits to what the PM can concede, with Congress sources ruling out any concession over and above the bottomline sketched by the government in Parliament.
Electoral setbacks, which have given a handle to those who held that the deal would alienate the Muslim vote, combined with the busy poll calendar ahead have, in fact, left the government with little wiggle space.
In Washington, the Bush administration, despite its promises to India, does not have the political capital to work around the restrictive provisions of the Hyde Act passed by the Congress, particularly on reprocessing and testing issues, as well as fuel guarantees.
WHY IT IS STUCK
Stalemate in talks as US in no mood to accede to Indiaâs stance on the three critical issues â reprocessing, testing and fuel guarantees
India determined not to make concessions beyond what the PM laid out in Parliament
Support for India dwindles at the Nuclear Suppliersâ Group. At last weekâs NSG meeting, the floundering US deal gave ammo to Indiaâs detractors
US âfrustrationâ may dwindle Indiaâs support in NSG
New Delhi: The US stance on the civil nuclear deal has also ensured that Indiaâs support has dwindled in the Nuclear Suppliersâ Group (NSG). At last weekâs NSG meeting in Cape Town, the floundering deal found Indiaâs detractors in the body gathering ammunition against its stance.
High-level US officialsâ ââfrustrationââ and ââdisappointmentââ displayed in the media has now hardened many countriesâ position against India. The common refrain now is: Sew up the 123 deal with the US and the safeguards agreement with the IAEA and then we will review our stand. The US had promised to deliver the NSG to India, but without the 123 text, there is no interest in doing so now.
Besides, neither of Indiaâs traditional supporters, Russia and France, will move a muscle for India in the absence of the US deal. As it becomes more and more difficult to reconcile US and Indian positions on key issues like consent rights on reprocessing and keeping the testing clause out, curiously, the 123 text acquires much greater importance. For India, this will be the template for the NSG exemption. Indiaâs negotiations with the US are, in fact, Indiaâs negotiations with the world.
The delay is also attracting other detritus that is sure to make things more difficult. The latest is a letter by four Republican and four Democrat senators to the PM, asking India to suspend its ââstrategic partnershipââ with Iran â showing bipartisan support for the issue. According to reports, the senators say such a public declaration from India would ââremove a potentially serious barrier to future cooperationââ between US and India, which is little short of a veiled threat.
During the past four days, Indian and US negotiators led by S Jaishankar and Richard Stratford respectively, meeting on the sidelines of the NSG plenary at Cape Town, succeeded in cleaning up the text somewhat, but the big issues remain unresolved.
Apart from the known hitches, the key problem between the two sides seems to be the interpretation of the term ââIndia-specificââ. US negotiators want to push India closer to a non-nuclear weapon state (NNWS) position, while India is pulling in the other direction.
The turning of the screws by the US is actually having the opposite effect on India â itâs raising hackles in quarters which might make Indiaâs negotiations much more difficult. Itâs also not being helped by the fact that there appears to be a deathly silence on the entire issue by the UPA government.
indrani.bagchi@timesgroup.com
Kashif
Rigid stance of US puts N-deal at risk
âWe Cannot Accept The Deal Under These Conditionsâ
Indrani Bagchi | TNN
New Delhi: The odds are lengthening against the India-US nuclear deal, and under the existing circumstances its prospects appear bleak. As the two countries battle a stalemate in the negotiations on the ââ123ââ agreement, it has become clear that the US cannot extend nuclear cooperation to India the way it was promised in the July 18 and March 2 joint statements, and India cannot accept anything less.
A high-level source in the Indian government told TOI, ââWe cannot accept the deal under these conditions.ââ
As foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon embarks on a last-ditch bid to salvage the deal in a weekâs time, it is being recognised that the US is in no mood to concede Indiaâs stance on the three critical issues of reprocessing, testing and fuel guarantees. While the Bush administration has not publicly hardened its stance as yet, the increasingly shrill comments by senior US officials in the US media are being seen as reflecting their insistence that India must come around. What started off as individual laments has become a refrain.
At this end, the government is determined not to make any concession beyond what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid out in Parliament.
There is a hope that a Manmohan-Bush session can resolve the logjam. But here too, there are limits to what the PM can concede, with Congress sources ruling out any concession over and above the bottomline sketched by the government in Parliament.
Electoral setbacks, which have given a handle to those who held that the deal would alienate the Muslim vote, combined with the busy poll calendar ahead have, in fact, left the government with little wiggle space.
In Washington, the Bush administration, despite its promises to India, does not have the political capital to work around the restrictive provisions of the Hyde Act passed by the Congress, particularly on reprocessing and testing issues, as well as fuel guarantees.
WHY IT IS STUCK
Stalemate in talks as US in no mood to accede to Indiaâs stance on the three critical issues â reprocessing, testing and fuel guarantees
India determined not to make concessions beyond what the PM laid out in Parliament
Support for India dwindles at the Nuclear Suppliersâ Group. At last weekâs NSG meeting, the floundering US deal gave ammo to Indiaâs detractors
US âfrustrationâ may dwindle Indiaâs support in NSG
New Delhi: The US stance on the civil nuclear deal has also ensured that Indiaâs support has dwindled in the Nuclear Suppliersâ Group (NSG). At last weekâs NSG meeting in Cape Town, the floundering deal found Indiaâs detractors in the body gathering ammunition against its stance.
High-level US officialsâ ââfrustrationââ and ââdisappointmentââ displayed in the media has now hardened many countriesâ position against India. The common refrain now is: Sew up the 123 deal with the US and the safeguards agreement with the IAEA and then we will review our stand. The US had promised to deliver the NSG to India, but without the 123 text, there is no interest in doing so now.
Besides, neither of Indiaâs traditional supporters, Russia and France, will move a muscle for India in the absence of the US deal. As it becomes more and more difficult to reconcile US and Indian positions on key issues like consent rights on reprocessing and keeping the testing clause out, curiously, the 123 text acquires much greater importance. For India, this will be the template for the NSG exemption. Indiaâs negotiations with the US are, in fact, Indiaâs negotiations with the world.
The delay is also attracting other detritus that is sure to make things more difficult. The latest is a letter by four Republican and four Democrat senators to the PM, asking India to suspend its ââstrategic partnershipââ with Iran â showing bipartisan support for the issue. According to reports, the senators say such a public declaration from India would ââremove a potentially serious barrier to future cooperationââ between US and India, which is little short of a veiled threat.
During the past four days, Indian and US negotiators led by S Jaishankar and Richard Stratford respectively, meeting on the sidelines of the NSG plenary at Cape Town, succeeded in cleaning up the text somewhat, but the big issues remain unresolved.
Apart from the known hitches, the key problem between the two sides seems to be the interpretation of the term ââIndia-specificââ. US negotiators want to push India closer to a non-nuclear weapon state (NNWS) position, while India is pulling in the other direction.
The turning of the screws by the US is actually having the opposite effect on India â itâs raising hackles in quarters which might make Indiaâs negotiations much more difficult. Itâs also not being helped by the fact that there appears to be a deathly silence on the entire issue by the UPA government.
indrani.bagchi@timesgroup.com
