The Hindu : National : India not for changes in deal with U.S.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 05, 2006

National

National

India not for changes in deal with U.S.

Diplomatic Correspondent

`No plans to send troops to Afghanistan'

NEW DELHI: New Delhi on Thursday showed no desire for any changes in the India-United States civilian nuclear deal after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is said to have told a group of visiting Parliamentarians from India that amendments within the spirit of the July 18, 2005 joint statement were possible.

Asked to respond to the comments attributed to Ms. Rice by Shahid Siddiqui, MP, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman maintained that there had been no change in the Indian position as articulated in the July 2005 joint statement.

The spokesman also rejected a newspaper report that India had been approached by Britain to send troops to Afghanistan. ``There is no such proposal [to send troops to Afghanistan],'' he said in response to questions.

On Sri Lanka, the spokesman said India's defence relationship with Sri Lanka involved the training of military personnel and the exchange of visits by chiefs of the three services. There was good cooperation between the two sides on the training aspects.

According to him, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera would be in India from May 7-9 to provide a first-hand assessment of events in the island nation. Mr. Samaraweera is expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran.

The spokesman said the Foreign Minister's visit to New Delhi was "timely" given that the peace process in Sri Lanka was "delicately poised". Asked what was India's impression of the stepped up attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the spokesman responded that India would wait to hear from Mr. Samaraweera.

On India's response to Nepal's announcement of a ceasefire with the Maoists, the spokesman said New Delhi had taken note of Wednesday's developments. Referring to the discussion on the roadmap in Nepal's Parliament, he said it was up to the Koirala Government to take it further.

``This announcement that you talked about has been directed toward the Maoists, so it would not be correct for me to make any statement at this stage. But as you know our general position is that the challenges that Nepal faces have to be sorted out through peaceful political means,'' the spokesman said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail