US defends India's non-proliferation record despite sanctions

Washington, Aug 8 (UNI) The George Bush administration has defended India's non-proliferation record despite imposition of sanctions against two Indian private firms for business dealings with Iran last Friday.

When the issue was raised at a briefing here yesterday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack emphasised that the US penalties were levied against two private Indian companies and not against the Indian government, or India, which the United States considers is very responsible in anti-proliferation efforts despite the sanctions.

The two companies were cited for violating a US law -- Iran Non-Proliferation Act of 2000, aimed at barring sales of sensitive dual-use technology that could help Iran develop weapons of mass destruction.

The State Department announced on Friday that two Indian chemical producers were among seven companies, including two each from India and Russia, were sanctioned for violating the Iran Non-proliferation Act, an American law enacted six years ago aimed at curbing Iran's ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

The officials said that one of the Indian companies, Balaji Amines Limited, was cited for selling Iran precursor chemicals for rocket fuel, while the other, Prachi Poly Products Limited, is said to have sold Iran precursor chemicals that could be used for chemical weapons.

The sanctions will bar the two Indian chemical companies from having any business dealings with the US government, or from buying certain US high-tech products, for two years.

However, critics in the Congress of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, like Congressman Edward Markey (Democrat from Massachusetts), had accused the Bush administration of withholding the sanctions announcement till the crucial vote on the deal was over in the House of Representatives. Markey and others tried to make the sanctions announcement as evidence that India's non-proliferation record was not that ideal as presented by the administration officials to get the deal off the floor of the House.

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