Don't rush the N-deal through: Senator
An influential US lawmaker warned the Bush administration against rushing the deal through the Congress.
By Nirmala Ganapathy, ET Bureau |
WASHINGTON: As India and the US rushed against time to get New Zealand, Ireland and Austria to support the nuclear deal ahead of the NSG meeting on August 21, an influential US lawmaker warned the Bush administration against rushing the deal through the Congress. He has asked for the deal to be put in cold storage until 2009.
With barely two weeks to go for the NSG meeting, officials on both sides admitted that New Zealand and some European countries, who are staunch supporters of non-proliferation, have not yet revealed what position they will take at the NSG on August 21 and 22. ���We don���t know everyone���s views,��� said a US official.
Even though both sides have stepped up diplomatic activities, the opposing nations are yet to come round to support the deal.
The US has only two weeks��� time between the NSG meeting and the beginning of the last session of the US Congress before elections, on September 8. And there are fears that the NSG may have to meet a second time to vote on the deal as any one country can delay the process by seeking extra time to consider the exemption draft.
The political timeline is tight not just for successfully concluding the NSG step, but also for pushing the deal through the US Congress for the final approval. Democrat Howard Berman, who is chairman of the crucial House Foreign Affairs Committee, has written to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice saying that the nuclear deal should be put in cold storage until January as the US Congress doesn���t have the time to study the NSG exemption in September. He further said that an NSG waiver that is inconsistent with the Hyde Act would jeopardise the agreement.
���I am a friend of India and a supporter of US-India nuclear cooperation. Yet I find it incomprehensible that the administration apparently intends to seek or accept an exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines for India with few or none of the conditions contained in the Henry J Hyde Act,��� Mr Berman said in the letter, which was made public on Wednesday.
India and US are looking for an exemption from the NSG that suits both India and the US. India has been pushing for a ���clean and unconditional��� exemption, while the US has expressed its discomfort with the term ���unconditional���. Officials said that the attempt is to get a waiver that suited both India and the US.
But India���s position that it will accept only a ���clean and unconditional exemption���, is fuelling concerns here that American companies would be at a disadvantage if the NSG exemption draft is more lenient than the Hyde Act, the domestic law that will govern US companies.
Mr Berman has raised this concern saying that it is ���incomprehensible that the administration apparently intends to seek or accept an exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines for India with few or none of the conditions��� in the Hyde Act. He said that this kind of exemption would ���place American firms at a severe competitive disadvantage and undermine critical US non-proliferation objectives���.
With barely two weeks to go for the NSG meeting, officials on both sides admitted that New Zealand and some European countries, who are staunch supporters of non-proliferation, have not yet revealed what position they will take at the NSG on August 21 and 22. ���We don���t know everyone���s views,��� said a US official.
Even though both sides have stepped up diplomatic activities, the opposing nations are yet to come round to support the deal.
The US has only two weeks��� time between the NSG meeting and the beginning of the last session of the US Congress before elections, on September 8. And there are fears that the NSG may have to meet a second time to vote on the deal as any one country can delay the process by seeking extra time to consider the exemption draft.
The political timeline is tight not just for successfully concluding the NSG step, but also for pushing the deal through the US Congress for the final approval. Democrat Howard Berman, who is chairman of the crucial House Foreign Affairs Committee, has written to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice saying that the nuclear deal should be put in cold storage until January as the US Congress doesn���t have the time to study the NSG exemption in September. He further said that an NSG waiver that is inconsistent with the Hyde Act would jeopardise the agreement.
���I am a friend of India and a supporter of US-India nuclear cooperation. Yet I find it incomprehensible that the administration apparently intends to seek or accept an exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines for India with few or none of the conditions contained in the Henry J Hyde Act,��� Mr Berman said in the letter, which was made public on Wednesday.
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently told Parliament that his government���s commitment was to what has been agreed in the 123 agreement. ���The Hyde Act provides the US administration the authorisation to enter into civil nuclear cooperation with India without insistence on full scope safeguards and without signing of the NPT. There are some prescriptive clauses, but they cannot and they will not be allowed to affect in any way the conduct of our foreign policy. Our commitment is to what has been agreed in the 123 Agreement. There is nothing in this agreement which will affect our strategic autonomy or our ability to pursue an independent foreign policy,��� Mr Singh had told the Lok Sabha on July 22.India and US are looking for an exemption from the NSG that suits both India and the US. India has been pushing for a ���clean and unconditional��� exemption, while the US has expressed its discomfort with the term ���unconditional���. Officials said that the attempt is to get a waiver that suited both India and the US.
But India���s position that it will accept only a ���clean and unconditional exemption���, is fuelling concerns here that American companies would be at a disadvantage if the NSG exemption draft is more lenient than the Hyde Act, the domestic law that will govern US companies.
Mr Berman has raised this concern saying that it is ���incomprehensible that the administration apparently intends to seek or accept an exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines for India with few or none of the conditions��� in the Hyde Act. He said that this kind of exemption would ���place American firms at a severe competitive disadvantage and undermine critical US non-proliferation objectives���.
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He pushed the administration to include a condition ending nuclear trade if India tests a nuclear weapon, prohibiting the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technology. ���It would also jeopardise congressional support for nuclear cooperation with India, this year and in the future,��� he said.Download
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