US crestfallen, mystified by N-deal development
A day after India formally conveyed to the US difficulties in continuing the nuclear deal, a disappointed US was left hoping that India would continue efforts.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: A day after India formally conveyed to the US ‘difficulties’ in continuing with the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, a disappointed US was left hoping that India would continue efforts to push through the deal.
The US was clearly taken aback by the government’s sudden turnaround on the deal with US ambassador to India Davic C Mulford frantically making rounds to South Block to understand how things went so wrong for the nuclear deal. The ambassador met with joint secretary (Americas) Gayatri I Kumar and in the last couple of days has met with external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon.
The speed of the government’s turnaround on the nuclear deal has shocked the US which was confident of pushing the deal through at different levels. A US official had earlier indicated that they were confident that the Congress government would be able to find a way out of the Communist roadblock.
With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveying the existing difficulties to US president George Bush, the US was left with little to say on Tuesday. The US state department merely said that it was up to the Indian government to sort out internal issues and hoped that India would continue efforts to conclude the agreement ``in a time that is appropriate for both sides’’.
``... it’s up to the government of India to talk about their efforts. Again, I think we’re going to continue to work on our part and we assume they’re going to continue to work on theirs and it’ll be done in a time that is appropriate for both sides,’’ deputy spokesman Tom Casey was quoted as saying.
“We believe this is an important arrangement. I think it will be good for both sides, once it’s implemented. And in terms of the timing and the process internally in India, I’ll just defer to the Indians on it,” the official said.
Mr Singh told Mr Bush in a telephonic conversation that ``certain difficulties have arisen with respect to the operationalisation of the India – US civil nuclear cooperation agreement.’’ Analysts here say that that the failure of the government to push through the deal would have an adverse impact on Indo-US ties and would erode India’s credibility on the global stage.
The US was clearly taken aback by the government’s sudden turnaround on the deal with US ambassador to India Davic C Mulford frantically making rounds to South Block to understand how things went so wrong for the nuclear deal. The ambassador met with joint secretary (Americas) Gayatri I Kumar and in the last couple of days has met with external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon.
The speed of the government’s turnaround on the nuclear deal has shocked the US which was confident of pushing the deal through at different levels. A US official had earlier indicated that they were confident that the Congress government would be able to find a way out of the Communist roadblock.
With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveying the existing difficulties to US president George Bush, the US was left with little to say on Tuesday. The US state department merely said that it was up to the Indian government to sort out internal issues and hoped that India would continue efforts to conclude the agreement ``in a time that is appropriate for both sides’’.
``... it’s up to the government of India to talk about their efforts. Again, I think we’re going to continue to work on our part and we assume they’re going to continue to work on theirs and it’ll be done in a time that is appropriate for both sides,’’ deputy spokesman Tom Casey was quoted as saying.
“We believe this is an important arrangement. I think it will be good for both sides, once it’s implemented. And in terms of the timing and the process internally in India, I’ll just defer to the Indians on it,” the official said.
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Calling the deal good for non-proliferation efforts, the spokesperson further said: ``On our side, we would of course need to work out an appropriate arrangement with the Nuclear Suppliers Group. And certainly we want to see that get accomplished. But again in terms of the timing and the discussions internally within the Indian political system, I’ll leave that to them.’’Mr Singh told Mr Bush in a telephonic conversation that ``certain difficulties have arisen with respect to the operationalisation of the India – US civil nuclear cooperation agreement.’’ Analysts here say that that the failure of the government to push through the deal would have an adverse impact on Indo-US ties and would erode India’s credibility on the global stage.
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