India hopes US Commt to agree on Indo-US N-bill

New Delhi, July 1: India has said there was no question of compromising its pursuit of an independent foreign policy or its national interest and asserted that it was still waiting to see what form the legislation in the US Congress for approving the July 18, 2005, Nuclear agreement takes.

''...We have keenly followed the debate in the US House International Relations Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which have passed the Bill on Indo-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation by huge majorities. It is important to note that this is bi-partisan endorsement of the mutual wish of India and US for civil nuclear cooperation as expressed in July 18 Joint Statement,'' Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma told some reporters.

Describing the passing of the Bill by the two Committees as ''initial steps'', he said India was still waiting to see what form the legislation took.

While the Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed the US-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act on Thursday, the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives had passed the bill on Tuesday.

Mr Sharma said there was no question of India accepting any fresh obligations and that there had been no departure from the July 18 statement or any dilution of the same.

No development had taken place in the intervening period to justify the Memorandum to the President.

''There is no question of India compromising in any manner its pursuit of an independent foreign policy and in the safeguard of the national interest,'' he added.

He reiterated that India would engage the US and other countries and international partners in civilian nuclear matters on the basis of mutual understandings in conformity with the July 18 Joint Statement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Statement on March 11 and the Separation Plan tabled in Parliament.

Mr Sharma dismissed the criticism of the Government by the Left allies and the opposition BJP on the clause on Iran, test ban and other issues and said it was either because of inadequate comprehension by analysts and political leaders about the text of the draft Bill and its impact on India, or because of motivated, partisan political agenda to mislead the public opinion on this issue.

He also described as ''unfair and unwarranted'' the charge of misleading Parliament and said the US Congress had its own procedure for discussing a legislation. However, it was neither binding on India nor reflected in the operative part.

''We are concerned about the operative part which is important and contains specific presidential waivers for nuclear cooperation with India. It may be noted that India is bound only by the reciprocal Commitments contained in the July 18 Joint Statement and March understanding which was submitted to the Parliament as the Separation Plan. We have not made any fresh commitments or obligations. India is committed to pursue an independent foreign policy taking into consideration its sovereign interests,'' Mr Sharma said while assuring that whatever decision India made, would be judicious and based on merit.

''There is no question of compromising India's position,'' he added.

Talking aabout the concerns expressed by the Left allies he said the government would try and dispel their doubts. This could be discussed in the Left-UPA Coordination Committee.

''We will talk to the Left. In a democracy it is understandable that political parties have their own perceptions. We believe in having a broad-based national consensus on all matters related to foreign policy which ensures that India's interests are supreme.

He said the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation would not only be in India's interest and the interests of India-US relations, it was a major global partnership which would be in the interests of the global community.

Criticising the policies of the NDA government, he said it had taken specific positions on matters including the nuclear issue and India's relations with US and Pakistan. On Pakistan, the NDA Government lacked coherence and consistency, he said. On Indo-US nuclear cooperation and BJP's objections he said BJP was now trying to ''mislead'' the nation by accusing the Prime Minister.

Rejecting the opposition charges, Mr Sharma said the NDA government was discussing strategic restraint and the quantum of deterrent with the US.

''It is a matter of record. Mr Strobe Talbott has written in his book about what he and Mr Jaswant Singh were discussing. You must note that this was happening even when the US Senate had not ratified the CTBT. We are not discussing anything like that. We are only talking about civil nuclear cooperation within the parameters of July 18 Statement. Mr Vajpayee said at the UN General Assembly in 1998 that India was ready for de jure formalisation of India's obligation not to do any more nuclear tests. In all this, we were not kept in the picture. This exposes BJP's hypocrisy,'' he added.

The UPA government, on the other hand, had been conscious of its obligation to keep the Parliament informed, he noted.

On India's nomination of Mr Shashi Tharoor for UN Secretary General's post, Mr Anand Sharma said it should be seen in proper context. Most countries accept the principle of regional rotation and according to that, it is Asia's turn. ''We have nominated Mr Tharoor who is an eminently suitable candidate. He is an Indian national, a distinguished intellectual and understands the UN system. I do not think that anyone has any reservations on this,'' he said in the wide-ranging interview.

He said the permanent membership of the UN Security Council was unrelated to Mr Tharoor's candidature and asserted India's commitment to pursue campaign for UN reforms, democratisation and expansion of the Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories.

The Minister said India had re-tabled the G-4 resolution and was pressing for a debate in the General Assembly on that Resolution.

India had been actively engaging other countries including the African Union to mobilise support for the Resolution.

''As of now, it is only a framework resolution but I have no doubt that when the next stage comes India will have substantial support in the General Assembly. India's candidature has already been endorsed by a vast majority of countries and it enjoys an enormous amount of goodwill,'' he added.

On Sri Lanka, he said India was concerned about the situation.

and supports the peace process for a negotiated settlement of the ethnic issue.

''We are supportive of the Peace Process and stand for a negotiated settlement of the ethnic issue. We are for the stability and unity of Sri Lanka. This has been our consistent position. There can't be a military solution,'' the Minister said.

UNI

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