Shyam Saran allays apprehensions among lawmakers

Washington, Mar 31 (UNI) As the US Congress mulls legislation to allow civilian nuclear technology to India, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran has sought to allay apprehensions among some lawmakers, that the US-India nuke deal would weaken the international nuclear non proliferation system.

He said the landmark deal would only strengthen the system.

''Full civil nuclear cooperation between India and the United States has a strong security rationale to enable India to make a fuller contribution to global nonproliferation efforts,'' Mr Saran told the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank here yesterday.

India, he said, was also committed to maintain its voluntary moratorium on testing. ''U S law requires an end to nuclear cooperation with any state that explodes a nuclear device and India accepts this,'' he said.

Replying to a question following his talk on Indo-US Relations: An Agenda for the Future the Foreign Secretary said, ''India has no objection to accepting certain unspecified congressional ideas or suggestions'' as long as they do not upset the ''delicate balance'' of understanding negotiated with the Bush administration.

On some lawmakers' suggestion that certain conditions need to be imposed before the deal could be approved, Mr Saran said the U S legislation ''is within bounds'' of India's understandings with the administration, ''I think we would have no problem. But this is hypothetical for now and it is important to see exactly what Congress proposes,'' he said.

Indian and US officials have rejected the idea of conditions saying it should not lead to renegotiating the deal.

To mounting criticism that the deal would allow India to boost its nuclear weapons arsenal, Mr Saran made it clear that "India has not indulged in a nuclear weapons race before this agreement was arrived at (and) there is no reason why it should be expected that merely because we have an agreement on civil energy cooperation, that suddenly the floodgates would be opened by India for a larger and larger arsenal.'' Referring to the vigorous debate on the issue in the US, the Foreign Secretary said, ''We believe that our case will come out stronger after it is subjected to the rigorous scrutiny characteristic of democratic processes. I am confident that at the end of the day, it will be recognised that India has large energy needs and that its responsible record makes it a reliable partner for the United States and the international community.'' In this context he mentioned that some surprise has been expressed that an initiative of this ambitious nature was undertaken with such confidence and so suddenly. May I point out that a nuclear technology denial regime has a larger restrictive implication across the entire technology spectrum. Some years ago, India faced difficulties in procuring a super-computer even for weather forecasting because of the nuclear driven export controls.

The continuation of status quo, therefore, constitutes a major impediment to realise the full potential of our knowledge economy partnership that is so important for the future of our two countries, he remarked.

The U S Congress must ratify the accord. Under the deal, once India opens 14 of its 22 nuclear facilities to international inspections, it will be allowed to buy nuclear technology, power plants, equipment and fuel from the United States and other members of the Nuclear Suppliers Club.

In his speech Mr Saran said enacting legislation to reflect policy changes is not an easy process in any polity. ''We, in India, appreciate that having ourselves gone through the painstaking process of creating the political consensus for the passage of export control legislation last year.'' He expressed the hope that when the ''Congress examines this issue, they will have before them a vision of the scope and breath of our possible relationship one based on the congruence of principles and pragmatism that our Prime Minister has articulated'' and will link that to the nuclear agreement. ''The remarkable progress that we have made in so many facets of our relationship in recent years makes me confident that this vision will prevail,'' he added.

UNI/XC/AT BST1358