'123 Agreement' compromises India's strategic security:Advani

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Kochi, Sep 2 (UNI) Asserting that the ''flawed 123 deal'' with the US ''compromises India's national security'', Leader of the Opposition L K Advani today said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should explain whether previous governments, including those led by the Congress, had ''missed the bus'' by refusing to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Addressing a press conference here, the senior BJP leader said his party and the NDA were opposed to the 123 Agreement in its present form as it placed curbs on India's strategic capabilities.

Stating that the BJP has been an advocate of India becoming a nuclear weapons power since the 1960s (the erstwhile Jan Sangh passed a resolution to this effect in 1966), Mr Advani said the present agreement with the US was not acceptable as it sought to put curbs on any future nuclear testing by India.

''In case of any further nuclear tests by India, the 123 Agreement provides for a return of any nuclear fuel, equipment or reactors supplied by the United States. This poses curbs on our strategic capabilities and for this reason, the agreement is not acceptable to us,'' he added.

Stating that successive governments in the past had refused to sign the NPT for this reason, Mr Advani said the Manmohan Singh government had tacitly agreed to the NPT through the 123 Agreement with the US.

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