WASHINGTON, Feb 17: US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns will visit India next week only if New Delhi has a ‘separation plan’ for its civil and military nuclear facilities, says a senior State Department official.
The plan is enjoined in the July 18 agreement for Indo-US nuclear cooperation signed by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington.
Mr Burns would go to New Delhi if something significant could be achieved before the president’s visit in March, Richard Boucher, the designated assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Mr Burns, the chief US negotiator for Indo-US nuclear cooperation, was “willing to have a new round next week if we think we have a basis for concluding ... the separation plan,” said Mr Boucher.
The State Department’s top diplomat for South Asian affairs also said during his confirmation hearing that the nuclear deal and enhancing economic relations with India were “the two most important” priorities of the US administration.
The accord has run into trouble over the separation of India’s civilian and military nuclear installations.
Under the deal, India is to open its civilian nuclear facilities for international inspection. While India has accepted the condition, it is unwilling to include its fast breeder reactors among the facilities that would be opened to international inspections. The US also wants these reactors to be listed as civilian facilities.
“We are trying to do something unique that we’ve not done before,” said Mr Boucher while stressing that the Indian separation plan would have to be “credible, transparent and defensible.”
Questions about the proposed Indo-US nuclear cooperation were raised during the question and answer session of Mr Boucher’s confirmation hearing, with some legislators pointing out that the July 18 deal could lead to unfettered proliferation.
Panel chair Senator Richard Lugar pointed out that both Mr Burns and the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph met him on Wednesday and briefed him on the India-US nuclear arrangement.
Mr Lugar also brought up the issue of India’s relations with Iran noting that India had voted against Iran at the IAEA meetings in Vienna but at the same time it was negotiating a deal with Iran to buy natural gas despite a US ban on making such arrangements.
Reports that the US wants India to put its fast breeder reactor programme under IAEA safeguards have triggered a political storm in India, raising questions over the future of the deal.
