World | India
Experts remain optimistic on nuclear deal
Indian defence and diplomacy experts said on Saturday they expect a landmark agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the United States will overcome a setback in the US Senate.
- AP
- Published: 23:06 September 27, 2008
New Delhi: Indian defence and diplomacy experts said on Saturday they expect a landmark agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the United States will overcome a setback in the US Senate.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit India on October 3 to seal the landmark deal.
The accord would reverse three decades of US policy by allowing atomic fuel to be supplied to India in return for international inspections of its civilian, but not military, reactors.
The agreement appeared stalled in the US Senate on Friday after at least one lawmaker anonymously blocked a vote on the Bill under arcane Senate rules, according to congressional aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Confident
But K. Subrahmanyam, who is a former member of India's National Security Council, said he was confident the US Senate would find a way around the stalemate. "Since both majority and minority leaders favour the Bill, I hope they will find means of getting round to such things," Subrahmanyam said.
G. Parthasarthy, a retired Indian diplomat, said he believed the objection was procedural.
"One senator can't block it. The Bill enjoys bipartisan support and it is likely to go through," he said. The nuclear deal has been a high priority for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government as it seeks to end India's nuclear isolation since its first atomic test in 1974 and to help meet the country's growing energy needs.
The Bush administration argues that selling peaceful nuclear technology to India would bring India's atomic programme under closer scrutiny.
But critics say the accord would ruin global efforts to stop the spread of atomic weapons and boost India's nuclear arsenal.
India has refused to sign non-proliferation agreements and has faced a nuclear trade ban since 1974.
But this month, the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group agreed to lift the ban on civilian nuclear trade with India after contentious talks and some concessions to those countries that were fearful it could set a dangerous precedent.
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