NEW DELHI: The question over the civilian nuclear deal with Washington is whether or not the American bill has fulfilled the assurances Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave Parliament, the former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishrasaid on Saturday.

Asked for his reaction, Mr. Mishra told this correspondent that it was no longer an issue of what retired scientists or diplomats were saying. "He [the Prime Minister] will have to face Parliament," maintained Mr. Mishra, who was Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's National Security Adviser and Principal Secretary.

According to him, reports on the bill suggested that certain provisions did not fulfil the assurances given by Dr. Singh. "He will have problems there [in Parliament]."

Speaking in Parliament on August 17 about the consequences of a nuclear test by India, the Prime Minister said, "There is provision in the proposed U.S. law that were India to detonate a nuclear explosive device, the U.S. will have the right to cease further cooperation. Our position on this is unambiguous.

"The U.S. has been intimated that reference to nuclear detonation in the India-U.S. Bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreement as a condition for future cooperation is not acceptable to us. We are not prepared to go beyond a unilateral voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing as indicated in the July [18, 2005] statement."

The bilateral nuclear cooperation accord, called the "123 agreement" by the U.S, is still under negotiation between the countries. On Friday, U.S. Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said it involved codification of what was agreed to earlier by New Delhi and Washington.

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