US not to shift goal posts under Indo-US nuke deal:Bush assures P M

St Petersburg, July 17 (UNI) Allaying India's apprehensions, President George W Bush today assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the US had no plan to ''shift the goal post'' relating to the Indo-US nuclear deal and that the proposed American law to ratify the agreement would be within the parameters of the July 18, 2005 joint statement and the separation plan for India's nuclear facilities presented in Parliament.

''There is no intention on the part of the US to go beyond the scope of the deal and the separation plan as the US understood India's concerns,'' Mr Bush told Dr Singh at their bilateral meeting held here on the sidelines of the G8 summit.

Briefing reporters on the 40-minute meeting and the other day-long engagements of the Prime Minister, including the first-ever summit-level trilateral talks between India, Russia and China, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said the biggest gain at these talks was the issue of a strongly worded statement by the G8 and its outreach partners condemning the Mumbai and Srinagar blasts on July 11.

The statement had also recognised the need for bringing to book the ''sponsors'' of terrorism which was a ''very, very important gain,'' Mr Saran said without referring to Pakistan.

Earlier, Dr Singh had made it clear that the scale of the July 11 attacks could not have been possible without outside involvement.

Mr Saran said xxx Eds here picking up from line 0ne, para one of DF29 PM-NIGHT LEAD G8 TWO ST PETERSBURG.

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