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India must take courageous decision: Burns

Nicholas Burns

Washington: Asking the Indian government to take a “courageous” decision on the civilian nuclear deal considering the “short timelines,” the Bush administration has cautioned it against attempting such an arrangement with other nations ignoring the United States.

“We now are in the vanguard. We’re the leading country that will support the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in making an international case that all nations should engage in nuclear trade with India. That cannot happen without the U.S. because the NSG, of which we are a leading member, has to decide by a consensus,” the top U.S. negotiator for the deal, Nicholas Burns, said.

“The Indian government is not suggesting this, but in your worst-case scenario, if there was an attempt to say ‘well, we’re going to forget about the deal with the US, but go forward,’ it couldn’t happen, because the NSG wouldn’t make the decision in that case,” Mr. Burns, who is the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, said responding to a question.

Amid reports that New Delhi could abandon the U.S. deal to engage in civilian nuclear trade with other nations, Mr. Burns maintained it was “impossible” because what had to happen had to happen in Washington. Stressing that the timelines were “short” to firm up the deal, Mr. Burns said: “I think the Indian government is quite sincere in wanting to push this agreement forward. There’s obviously a question of politics within the Indian coalition, and we don’t want to interfere in the internal affairs of the coalition in India.” “But we do know this, as Senator [Joseph] Biden said last week and I think as Secretary Gates said when he was in India two days ago: time is very short.”

The top U.S. official said: “Senator Biden had explained that for the U.S. Congress to make a final vote on this issue in 2008, the entire agreement must land on the doorstep of the Congress by May or June of this year.

“If you back up from there, that means that the IAEA agreement must be made within a week or two, and it means the NSG would have to begin acting in the month of March. So there are very short timelines here, and I’m afraid it’s time for the government to decide,” he said.

Stating that the deal was in the interest of both the U.S. and India and that it enjoyed strong support from Russia, France, and even the Chinese government, Mr. Burns said,

“If India is to be given this great victory,.. there has to be a courageous decision made by the government to move forward. We hope that decision will be positive,” Mr. Burns said.

At a briefing at the Washington Press Centre, Mr. Burns highlighted the role of United States in bringing India out of nuclear isolation. — PTI

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