WASHINGTON, Dec 7: The chairman of the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee warned on Tuesday that Congress would throw out any ‘opaque’ plan by the Bush administration to forge unprecedented civilian nuclear cooperation with India.

President George Bush agreed to give India, which is not a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), access to civil nuclear energy technology under a deal he signed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July.

But India has to first separate its civilian and military nuclear programs and place its nuclear reactors under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections.

Under US law, the deal also has to be approved by the US Congress.

“While the Bush administration has, I think, been very clear in discussions with the Indian government about its expectations, let me emphasize that any Indian plan will have to pass muster with the United States Congress,” Republican Senator Dick Lugar said.

“That should not be viewed as a threat, but rather as a political challenge that must be met,” he told senior Indian policymakers and business leaders gathered in Washington for a US-India Strategic Dialogue.

Under the July deal, the United States also agreed to lobby allies in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for full civil nuclear energy cooperation and trade with India.

New Delhi is seen by Washington at present to be not in compliance with key non-proliferation practices and conventions.

Mr Lugar said an ‘opaque or incomprehensible’ Indian separation plan would only raise more questions, particularly in the Congress, about India’s intentions.

“More generally, as a politician in the United States Senate charged with guiding this agreement through the legislative branch, I would urge the Indian side to think in maximalist terms and include as many facilities as possible within the scope of the civilian declaration,” he said.—AFP