NEW DELHI, Jan 13: US Senator John Kerry has claimed that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will sign a proposed nuclear Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty thus effectively capping New Delhi’s nuclear programme as part of its bargain to get civilian nuclear aid from Washington.

The Democratic Party’s failed challenger to US President George W. Bush in last year’s election was tough also on Iran, Pakistan and China over proliferation issues. He hinted that nuclear aspirations of Iran, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea would have to be weighed against what the United States was willing to grant India.

India’s quest for civilian nuclear tie up with the United States was a global matter, not just a bilateral issue, he told reporters on Thursday after talks with Dr Singh.

“We cannot only look at this agreement in its bilateral context,” Mr Kerry said. “It also has larger implications, and it is important for both India and the United States to be thoughtful about those.”

He said non-proliferation was not just the “movement of weapons from one state to another or the facilitation of the ability of one state or another to be able to build. Proliferation is also the building of additional weapons by any country”.

Therefore the fissile material and other components of the deal were worth thinking about in the larger context.

“Are they show-stoppers? We have to see how this thing is put together in the next days,” Mr Kerry warned in an indication that the US-India deal was not yet through.

He said in principle he believed it was important to move forward with India on the civilian nuclear agreement of July 18, but finer verifications were still required.

“And there may be more that can be done in the next few days to try to clarify the ways in which we strengthen the overall direction of the non proliferation agreement, which is what we want to do here in the end,” Mr Kerry said.

“Now, the one thing the prime minister said to me very very clearly, and I am convinced of it, is that India will sign a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty as soon as it is arrived at. Now the question is can you arrive at that?” he said.

The issue would get a lot of visibility in the days ahead.