WASHINGTON, March 1: A US Congressman has raised serious doubts over the Indo-US nuclear agreement, saying a special concession to India could trigger similar demands from other countries.
The Pakistani government said if India received this deal it, too, would want the same, said Edward Markey in a statement issued in Washington.
“I believe these are very serious security questions, not just for the United States, not just for the United Nations, but for India itself,” Congressman Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said. He has also proposed a bipartisan resolution with Congressman Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, opposing sharing of nuclear technology with India.
Mr Markey said President George W. Bush’s call to share civilian nuclear technology with India was a “rogue nuclear doctrine.”
India maintains the treaty is unfair as some countries are allowed to have nuclear weapons while others are not. India conducted nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998 and is now seeking her recognition as a nuclear power.
India’s failure to sign the treaty is the reason why Congressmen Markey and Upton want to block the US from sharing civilian nuclear technology with the largest democracy in the world.
“Supplying nuclear fuel to countries that are not party to the NPT derails the delicate balance that has been established between nuclear nations,” said Mr Markey. “This also limits our capacity to insist that other nations should continue to follow this important non-proliferation policy,” he said adding: “We cannot break nuclear rules and demand that everyone else play by them.”
Meanwhile, the US-India Business Council has hired a high-profile law firm, Patton Boggs, to lobby support on Capitol Hill for the agreement signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the White House on July 18.
“We felt it’s very important that US industry’s voice be heard on Capitol Hill,” said Ron Somers, the president of the council which is an organization representing about 180 of the largest US companies investing in India.
He said if the US did not share civilian nuclear technology with India, the subcontinent would become wary of Washington for breaking a promise it made with New Delhi. “It would be a setback,” he said.
