Indo-US nuke deal historic: Mukherjee

Dubai, Mar 12 (UNI) Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Indo-US nuclear deal, signed during President George W Bush's visit to India, was a historical pact that helped break three-decades of 'nuclear apartheid'.

''We are voluntarily fulfilling certain conditions like not transfering any nuclear technology relating to strategic programmes and we also have declared 'no first use' of nuclear arms, besides voluntarily declaring a moratorium,'' he told newspersons in Oman yesterday.

We have done this without signing the NPT (Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty), he said.

Now it was for the US Congress to amend their domestic laws, to facilitate the deal, he added.

UNI XC SK KN1805