04 April 2004	Sunday	13 Safar 1425

WASHINGTON, April 3: A high-level Indian delegation is currently visiting Washington for talks on nuclear and strategic issues, diplomatic sources told Dawn on Saturday.

The delegation is led by two senior members of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Sheel Kant Sharma, who heads the disarmament section of the ministry and Sujata Mehta, who heads the Americas division.

Mr Sharma is holding talks on President Bush's proliferation security initiative that he announced last May in Krakow, Poland, the sources said.

Under this initiative, the Bush administration is seeking new agreements with allied nations for searching and seizing planes and ships carrying weapons of mass destruction or weapons technologies.

In October, US and British agents seized a German-flagged ship - BBC China - that was carrying parts to build a nuclear bomb from a Persian Gulf country to Libya. The seizure is believed to have influenced Tripoli's decision to suspend its weapons programme in December.

The diplomatic sources said that India has some reservations about entering into this arrangement with the United States and Mr Kant has come with a set of questions which he wants US officials to answer before New Delhi could sign an agreement with Washington.

"In principle, the Indians are not against reaching such an agreement with the United States. They know that already more than a dozen countries have joined this growing club of international monitors but they need certain clarifications first," said a senior South Asian diplomat in Washington.

"They are particularly concerned about the legal status of the proliferation security initiative and how it may affect India's own nuclear programme,"said the diplomat. "After all, India is not a member of the nuclear club and any tightening of control over nuclear materials could also affect India and Pakistan, two declared but unrecognized nuclear powers."

The other senior member of the Indian delegation - Sujata Mehta - is holding talks with US officials on further enhancing the newly formed strategic partnership between India and the United States.

The strategic partnership agreement was announced on Jan 12, in two separate statements issued in Washington and New Delhi by President Bush and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.