Delhi hands over nuclear facilities segregation plan to Washington

Dubai: India's Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran has handed over a plan to the United States to separate its civilian and nuclear facilities, a senior security analyst has confirmed to Gulf News.

In response to a question whether it was feasible for India to classify its 13 nuclear facilities into civilian and military, Professor K. Subrahmanyam, who has been part of the high-powered National Security Council in two consecutive governments and is an advocate of a stronger partnership with Washington, told Gulf News: "The foreign secretary has handed over a plan to separate the two to the US during his recent visit."

The handing over of the plan, he said, ends the discussion on "those who said it was impossible" to separate the two.

Saran held landmark talks with Nicholas Burns, Assistant Under-secretary for Political Affairs, who is his counterpart in the Bush administration.

Details of the meeting have been sketchy beyond the fact that India "offered ideas" on plans to separate civilian and military nuclear entities.

Subrahmanyam scoffed at critics in India who were calling for greater transparency on the progress of the first round of talks of the Indo-US Joint Working Group.

"The conversation has just begun between the two countries, negotiations are still underway; there can be greater clarity only once it is through."

Delhi is seeking a special one-time exemption of controls that prevent the US from transferring nuclear technology to civilian facilities in India.

The US Congress is in session in January and Indian officials are expecting a vote in their favour as the India Caucus, a pro-Delhi lobby has assured them they have the numbers to tilt a vote.

A seal on the nuclear pact as well as a billion-dollar fighter jet deal is expected to be one of the highs of a visit to India by US President George W. Bush in late February-early March.

The tough talking Subrahmanyam also said it was "illogical" for anyone to compare India's quest for nuclear technology with Iran's moves to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

The bipartisan committee in the US Congress has said a one-time exemption that India has sought would set a bad precedent when the international community was seeking to curb proliferators like Iran and North Korea.

"India is not a party to the treaty (Non-Proliferation Treaty), India is a nuclear weapons state; India has an impeccable record in non-proliferation.

These three reasons alone should tell you why India cannot be treated on par with states like Iran which have for 15 years, despite being a signatory to the NPT deceived the International Atomic Energy Agency and the international community on its covert nuclear weapons programme."

A hardliner, he justified India's vote in the IAEA against Tehran.

On reports that Pakistan had sought its nuclear programme to be treated on par with India's, he said: "The IAEA and the US will ask that Mr A.Q. Khan be available to them. When Pakistan does that, they can ask for the same treatment to be extended to them as is being made available to India."