'NSG should impose conditions before granting waiver to India'

WASHINGTON: Maintaining that an India-specific exemption from NSG rules would be a "serious mistake," a top non-proliferation expert has asked the 45 nation grouping to come up with "clear and unambiguous" guidelines relating to nuclear trade with India.
Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association and a critic of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal has said "... even with the additional conditions and restrictions that were proposed, an India-specific exemption from NSG rules would be a serious mistake that would blow a hole in the nuclear nonproliferation system."

"At this point, we can expect that Washington and New Delhi will try to wordsmith the proposals to restrict and condition nuclear trade with India to the point of being meaningless and force a decision at the next NSG meeting," Kimball added.

Kimball has argued that Washington will be working on a new draft text in the context of the "many amendments" proposed and supported "by over a dozen states" seeking restrictions and conditions on the nuclear trade with India.

"... given that the Bush administration is playing the role of India's "sherpa," you can expect that the Bush administration get direction about what its position should be from India," he said in an e-mail note.

"In response, responsible NSG states should insist on guidelines relating to India that are clear and unambiguous. And given that the NSG participant states' actions on this issue will have an impact for decades to come, they should not rush to judgement," he said.

The two-day meeting of NSG nations ended inconclusively yesterday and is expected to meet on September 4-5, to consider the changes proposed by some member countries.