US Senate passes landmark Indian nuclear deal
UNITED STATES: The US Senate passed a landmark civilian
nuclear deal with India, more than a year after it was proposed by
leaders of the two countries as a strategic move to boost ties.
The bill on the US-India Civilian Nuclear Agreement was adopted 85-12
by the Senate after a day of intense debate, officials said.
Under the agreement, India, a non-signatory of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), would be allowed access to long-denied
civilian nuclear technology in return for placing its atomic reactors
under global safeguards.
US President George W. Bush, in Asia to attend a summit of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, hailed the Senate
passage of the deal, saying it would bring the Asian giant into the
"non-proliferation mainstream."
Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to the deal in
July last year when Singh paid a visit to Washington. They reaffirmed it
during the US leader's visit to New Delhi in March.
The agreement was seen as controversial because the US Congress had
to create a rare exception for India from some of the requirements of
the US Atomic Energy Act, which currently prohibits nuclear sales to
non-NPT signatories.
In addition, US weapons experts warned that forging such an agreement
with non-NPT member India would not only make it harder to enforce rules
against nuclear renegades Iran and North Korea, but also set a dangerous
precedent for other countries with nuclear ambitions.
"This agreement is the most important strategic diplomatic initiative
undertaken by President Bush," said Republican Senator Richard Lugar,
co-author of the bill.
"By concluding this pact and the far-reaching set of cooperative
agreements that accompany it, the President has embraced a long-term
outlook that seeks to enhance the core strength of our foreign policy in
a way that will give us new diplomatic options and improve global
stability," he said.
During the debate, some Senators tried to inject controversial
amendments, including a mandatory commitment by New Delhi to stop making
nuclear bomb materials and to sever military links with Iran, but they
were rejected by vote.
"Granting India a special exemption from international and US nuclear
nonproliferation laws and guidelines sends the wrong signal at a time
when the world is trying to prevent Iran from getting the bomb," Edward
Markey, co-chair of the House of Representatives Taskforce on
Nonproliferation, said in a statement.
The Bush administration has won a commitment from New Delhi to
negotiate a so called Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty as a multilateral
approach to reduce nuclear tensions and threats associated with an arms
race in South Asia, US officials say.
The House of Representatives gave its thumbs-up to the nuclear deal
in July, a year after Bush and Singh first agreed on it, but a Senate
vote had been delayed due to legislative elections last week that
resulted in Democratic control of both chambers in the new Congress from
January.
The Senate approval Thursday, however, is not the final step in the
process.
The Senate and the House are scheduled to meet in December to
reconcile several amendments they had made and that needed to be
approved again by the two chambers before Bush signs the final bill into
law.
In addition, Congress will have to consider a comprehensive US-India
agreement incorporating all technical elements of the deal, including a
set of international nuclear safeguards that India had to adhere to.
"I am confident that we can now work closely with our colleagues in
the House to get this important measure to the president as swiftly as
possible," said Bill Frist, the Republican Senate majority leader.
Washington, Friday, AFP |