Text of government's negotiations with IAEA not classified: Karat

New Delhi, Jul 9 (UNI) Rejecting the government's claim that the text of the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA is classified, the Left parties today dared it to cite the related rule of the UN nuclear watchdog and asked it to explain whether there are seperate norms for the US and India.

''If it is a classified document, then how come the text of similar additional protocol of the US with the IAEA is available not only for the US Congressman but also for the general public in any part of the world on the website ,'' CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat told newspersons here.

Shortly after handing over their letters of withdrawal of support to the President, the Marxist leader sought to know about the rule of the IAEA which says that such protocol is classified.

Mr Karat was referring to UPA-Left panel on N-deal convenor Pranab Mukherjee's assertion yesterday that the exact text of the negotiations with the IAEA on the 123 agreement was ''a privileged document held in confidence and could not be shared with third parties.'' Such a text cannot be made confidential until the Indian government asked for it, the CPI(M) leader said, adding this is not the approved text by the IAEA so far.

''If the government has to prove its credibility, it has to make it (the text) public,'' the Marxist leader said.

Mr Karat also said they had submitted fact-to-fact notes on the various anti-national aspects of the deal to the government but the government has chosen not to answer any of them.

''We don't have the government's answers but we have our questionnaire and viewpoint which we will publish tomorrow,'' he added.

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