September 13, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 12, 1429

NEW DELHI, Sept 12: An India-specific nuclear deal awaiting approval by the US Congress shackles New Delhi’s weapons programme and jeopardises its national security, particularly if Pakistan or China choose to have a future test, India’s main opposition party said on Friday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s president, Mr Rajnath Singh, also accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of misleading the country to win a trust vote over the nationally divisive deal.

A similar accusation also came from the Left Front. It followed US President George W Bush pitching the 123 Agreement to the US Congress as something that is not legally binding.

President Bush’s letter to the US Congress says the clause on fuel supply assurances, which India insists is a key condition in the deal, is not legally binding on America.

“In Article 5(6) the Agreement records certain political commitments concerning reliable supply of nuclear fuel given to India,” Mr Bush said in his letter to Congress. “The Agreement does not, however, transform these political commitments into legally binding commitments because the agreement, like other US agreements of its type, is intended as a framework agreement.”

Sources in New Delhi say they want a clarification and that they find the distinction between legally binding and political commitments mystifying.

The nuclear fuel supply clause has become a critical issue ever since Senator Howard Berman – a strong critic of the deal, released a secret US State Department letter.

BJP president Rajnath Singh, while addressing the party’s national executive meeting in Bangalore, said that the issue of fuel supply, if the deal came through, was only an assurance and not a commitment.

Mr Singh said there were several reasons for opposing the deal. For instance, the People’s Daily recently published an article that China does not intend to limit its nuclear power.

“According to this newspaper, China needs to conduct further nuclear tests,” Mr Singh said. “If either Pakistan or China conducts a nuclear test that might threaten the balance of our regional strategic and security arrangement, then would not our right to conduct a nuclear test in response be seriously compromised?”

The Communist Party of India-Marxist said the presidential determination on the 123 agreement sent to the US Congress “once more” proves that the Manmohan Singh government has “consistently misled” the people of this country.

“The covering-note of the determination states there are no legally binding assurances on the US for fuel supplies. It also makes clear that the IAEA safeguards are in perpetuity and not as Indian officials claimed.

“Thus while the US does not guarantee assured nuclear fuel supplies, India has accepted its safeguards in perpetuity,” the statement said.

The CPI-M said the presidential determination reiterated Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s Sept 5 statement that India would join international efforts to stop the spread of enrichment and reprocessing technologies.

“(This is) an obvious reference to Iran ... Clearly India has succumbed to US pressure to deny Iran the rights as it was a signatory of the NPT,” the statement said, adding that on all these issues, it is the Hyde Act which has prevailed.