The Hindu : Front Page : “Deal will end nuclear apartheid”

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Thursday, Jun 12, 2008
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“Deal will end nuclear apartheid”

Sandeep Dikshit

Manmohan optimistic of India-U.S. deal moving ahead in the coming months

The deal will protect national, strategic interests, says Manmohan
It will open up trade in advanced sensitive technologies

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday expressed the hope that the India-U.S. nuclear deal would move ahead in the coming months to end the nuclear apartheid “the world has imposed on us.”

Speaking to Indian Foreign Service probationers at his residence here, Dr. Singh said India’s entry into the nuclear commerce mainstream would not only protect the country’s strategic interests but also open up trade in advanced sensitive technologies.

France and Russia were also keen on India completing the processes so that they could resume nuclear commerce with it. Dr. Singh’s observations came at the end of his address on the foreign policy challenges. The Prime Minister said he did not want to talk a “great deal” about the nuclear deal.

New dimension

The nuclear deal had given a new dimension to India’s relationship with the U.S. and it was for the first time “we got the U.S. to appreciate that India is a nuclear weapons state, that India has the right to develop nuclear power to protect its strategic interests, and that it is a decision that must be made by the people of India not subject to any international supervision or any international interference.”

Despite India not being a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and was unwilling to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Dr. Singh said there was no pressure from the U.S. to sign any such international arrangements as a precursor to nuclear cooperation for civil energy.

Dual technologies

Admitting that the deal signed with the U.S. had run into some difficulties, the Prime Minister pointed out that it would protect national interest as well as the capacity to use nuclear power to protect strategic interests.

“At the same time it opens up new opportunities for civilian cooperation and without that, I think, the trade in dual technologies — sensitive advanced technologies — cannot become a reality.”

Although domestic politics had prevented the government from going ahead, “I still continue to hope that we will make progress in the months that lie ahead. But it is very important for us to move forward…”

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