Date:07/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/07/stories/2008090757690100.htm

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Manmohan thanks Bush; Pranab hails waiver

Special Correspondent

Yashwant Sinha sees nuclear trap; Karat: neither clean nor unconditional waiver

— PHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN

VIENNA VICTORY: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, flanked by National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan (left) and Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar, announces the NSG waiver for India, at a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday called up United States President George Bush and thanked him for his role in taking forward the civilian nuclear initiative and the Nuclear Suppliers Group’s (NSG) decision to adjust its guidelines to enable full civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the international community.

The two leaders expressed their belief that mutually beneficial relations between India and the U.S. were in the interest of their people, and were on a path of steady consolidation and multifaceted expansion, to which both the leaders reiterated their commitment.

Dr. Singh termed the NSG’s act a “forward looking and momentous decision” marking the end of India’s decades-long isolation from the nuclear mainstream and of the technology denial regime.

“It is recognition of India’s impeccable non-proliferation credentials and its status as a state with advanced nuclear technology. It will give an impetus to India’s pursuit of environmentally sustainable economic growth,” he said.

Thanking the U.S. and other member countries of the NSG for their role in ensuring this outcome, he said the opening of full civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the international community would be good for India and for the world.

“We look forward to establishing a mutually beneficial partnership with friendly countries in an area, which is important for both global energy security as well as to meet the challenge of climate change,” he said.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee hailed the NSG waiver as a “unique development” achieved in accordance with commitments given to Parliament, and was consistent with India’s national interest.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said it was neither a clean nor an unconditional waiver because of the conditionalities of the Hyde Act. “This is another surrender towards operationalising the nuclear agreement and how explicit it is will be known when the text of the NSG waiver is available,” Mr. Karat told The Hindu.

BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said India had “walked into a nuclear non-proliferation trap and had surrendered its right to a further nuclear test.”