NEW DELHI, Oct 23: India on Saturday rejected charges by the US that two of its scientists had sold N-technology to Iran.
In a separate reaction Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attacked "artificial restrictions" imposed by major powers to the acquisition of peaceful N-technology by the world community.
The Hindustan Times on Saturday said the United States could widen the sanctions and quoted US officials as saying the Bush administration was considering imposing sanctions on one to three additional Indian "entities" for helping Iran's nuclear weapons programme.
Earlier, Indian and US officials discussed a gamut of security and technology related issues during the week as part of their Next Strategic Steps Partnership (NSSP), but Indian officials said the proposed new sanctions were not mentioned.
"We have seen these press reports. With the launch of the NSSP we now have a forum for discussions on such issues between the two countries and it is in this forum that all cases of onward proliferation can be brought up by one or the other country," an Indian foreign ministry spokesman said.
"In the recently concluded meeting of the NSSP implementation group, there was no demand made on the Indian side for evidence in regard to the two entities sanctioned by the US. In fact, the burden of action is on the US as we have already pointed out to them that the decision in regard to these entities is based on faulty evidence and must be revoked.
"We are also not aware of plans to sanction three entities as mentioned in these press reports. If there had been any such plans, then the NSSP forum would have been the appropriate forum to discuss these cases," the spokesman said.
The Bush administration has imposed sanctions on two Indian scientists identified as Shri Ch. Surendar and Y. Sivaraman Prasad, both former directors of the Nuclear Power Corp. of India, the state-run utility.
The scientists were among 14 persons and companies that were listed in the Federal Register for their role in transferring nuclear weapons-related technology to Iran.
Prime Minister Singh did not refer to the US by name, but said obliquely the measure amounted to rewarding those who were "irresponsible" and constraining those responsible.
