Bush hopes to finalize nuclear deal during visit to India
By Our Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Feb 24: US President George W. Bush has said that he believes he will have a civilian nuclear agreement with India in hand to take to Congress when he returns next week from his visit to South Asia.
“First is to go to India and hopefully reach an agreement on separation, and then bring that agreement back and start selling it to the Congress,” said Mr Bush in a pre-trip interview with Indian journalists, released by the White House on Thursday evening.
Defending the US demand for the separation of India’s civilian and military nuclear programmes, Mr Bush said it was not ‘unrealistic’ to ask India to do so.
“This will be confidence-building measure that we don’t believe is an unrealistic request,” said the US president while explaining why it was important for India to separate the two categories of nuclear reactors.
Noting that the Nuclear Supplier Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency would have to endorse the deal, he said it was “in India’s interest to do so (separation), as it pertains to civilian nuclear power industry”. “It will give confidence to people. It will make it easier for the US to work with India,” he said.
Asked whether he recognized India as a responsible nuclear nation, Mr Bush said: “I do, particularly when they signed the IAEA safeguards. And they have a separation between their military and their civilian nuclear parts of their government.”
Mr Bush also talked about the difficulty in completing the pact announced in Washington on July 18 but not yet finalized. The difficulty Mr Bush spoke about resulted from India’s reluctance to open its fast breeder reactors for international inspection.
The US believes that under the agreement, India needs to open the reactors for IAEA inspections as well.
US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns is in New Delhi trying to close the deal.
“I appreciate the (Indian) prime minister’s courage last July of laying out a way forward, which I support,” Mr Bush said, in the interview on Wednesday with reporters from the Dainak Bhaskar and the Times of India.
Critics of the deal on Capitol Hill say it undermines the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which India has not signed. They say it would put safeguards on India’s nuclear energy but not nuclear weapons programmes, possibly allowing the spread of nuclear material from India for non-peaceful purposes.
Asked about the alleged nuclear proliferation originating from Pakistan, particularly the A. Q. Khan network, the US president said the network was exposed by the US and Britain.
“And we, of course, want to know as much about the A. Q. Khan network as possible,” he said and added: “Had it not been for the US intelligence, coupled with British intelligence, this network never would have been exposed.”
Queried why the US was not backing India’s candidature for permanent membership of the UN Security Council if India’s credentials were so good, Mr Bush said: “We support a UN Security Council reform. But we think it ought to happen after other institutions within the UN become reformed.”
“We have said to all parties concerned, I fully understand the Indian position, just like other nations, that we will take your case under consideration. But first things first.”
On a light note, Mr Bush was asked whether he’d rather see a cricket match or a movie from Bollywood, as India’s film industry is known.
“I’m a cricket match person,” he said. “As I understand it, I may have a little chance to learn something about cricket. It’s a great pastime.”
His trip, however, will be light on tourism. Mr Bush is not planning to visit the Taj Mahal, a 17th century landmark.
“I am disappointed with that,” President Bush said, blaming his scheduler. “People who have seen the Taj Mahal say ... pictures don’t do it justice.”
