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India has a better track record: Sen

"Never reneged on commitment"

Ronen Sen

Washington : Admitting that there was opposition to the India-U.S. civilian nuclear deal in both countries, India said on Friday that New Delhi's track record in non-proliferation was ``much better'' than any other nation.

In his address at the Potomac Institute of Policy Studies, Ambassador to the U.S. Ronen Sen acknowledged that the nuclear agreement between the U.S. and India had some opposition but asserted that the debate was dissimilar in the countries.

``There is a little bit of history,'' Mr. Sen said, when asked about the opposition in India where some had raised the question of whether Washington will stay the course or pull the rug from under the feet down the line.

``We are unique in many ways. Our track record is much better than many of the countries represented in the Nuclear Suppliers Group,'' he said.

Mr. Sen pointed out that it was not for India to set the timetable on when the agreement is going to get through Congress.

Mr. Sen asserted that India had never reneged on an international commitment. ``Once we negotiate an agreement, we honour it. We do have difficulties and it gets heated at times but we'll honour our part of the agreement.''

He took on a popular misconception that relations between the U.S. and India were ``bad'' maintaining that this was not a correct assessment.

In the last 18 months, there has been a ``new direction, content and momentum'' in the bilateral relationship.

On relations with Pakistan, Mr. Sen stressed that "it is difficult to conduct negotiations in a framework of terrorism and said that steps must be taken to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism." — PTI

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