Left reject 123 pact for nuclear energy cooperation

New Delhi, Aug 7: Virtually rejecting the 123 agreement, the Left parties today asserted that the pact is unacceptable to them as it locks India into the US strategic alliance and asked the UPA government not to proceed further with operationalising it.

''There has to be a review of the strategic aspects of Indo-US relations in Parliament.We will press for a constitutional amendment for bringing international treaties and certain bilateral agreements for approval in Parliament,'' said the top leaders of the four Left parties after a nearly two-hour joint meeting.

Answering a volley of questions, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat told a news conference here the Left parties were unable to accept the agreement in the larger ''perspective of India's increasing strategic co-operation with the US, its becoming partner in the US nefarious design to promote unequal global nuclear order, the joint naval exercises and the US pressure on India to buy a whole range of weaponry including 126 fighter planes.''

CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan, CPI leader and party new Rajya Sabha MP D Raja, RSP leader Abani Roy and Forward Bloc national Secretary G Devrajan participated in the joint meeting which at the end came out with a five-page statement that '' the flawed nuclear co-operation agreement cannot be justified on the debatable basis of augmenting our energy resources or achieving energy security.''

''The motivation for the US side is commercial gains which will accrue for its corporates running into billions of dollars,'' said the signed statement adding that,'' the Left parties had already cautioned the government not to accept nuclear cooperation with the US on terms that compromises its independent foreign policy and its sovereign rights for developing a self-reliant nuclear programme.'' Referring to the inmical provisions of the Hyde Act, Mr Karat emphasised that the skilful drafting of the text could not hide the fact that the agreement would ultimately be governed by the US national law.''

A careful study of the text leaves no one in doubt that the Hyde Act provisions looms in the background.'' Mr Karat, elaborating, said,'' the bilateral agreement cannot be seen outside the context of the Hyde Act. However much the two sides have sought by skilful drafting to avoid the implications of the Hyde Act, it is a 'national law' which is there at present and will be there in the future.'' Mr Bardhan said,'' the agreement which bound India into clauses of perpetuity ad which legitimises the US abiding by its national laws is something which should be seen objectively for its serious implications.''

The statement said,'' it is clear that the UPA government looks forward to a agreement with the NSG that would be more wide-ranging than the 123 agreement allowing for access to enrichment and reprocessing technologies, support for building a strategic reserve and provision of nuclear fuel in case of disruption of US supplies or termination or cessation of the 123 agreement. In the likely event that the NSG does not oblige, the terms of the 123 agreement would impact even more negatively than they appear now. The same consideration applies to any agreement that would be made with the IAEA.''

UNI