Pranab re-affirms “red lines”: Waiver must conform with commitments to parliament

New Delhi: With the Nuclear Suppliers Group already in session at its two-day meet in Vienna, India's external affairs minister, Pranab Mukherjee, has set out the parameters under which this country will provide its assent to any formulation that the NSG may come up with at their meeting. He has stated in no uncertain terms that India will not agree to anything proposed by the NSG which goes beyond prime minister Manmohan Singh's "commitment to parliament".

"We have already stated what our commitment is. We cannot go beyond our commitment to parliament, commitment made by the prime minister and commitment made by ourselves," Mukherjee has said in an interview with state-run All India Radio.

"Therefore, whatever we have committed to it, it will have to be achieved within that," Mukherjee underlined.

The interview will air Thursday night.

Mukherjee made it clear that any proposed  NSG waiver will be guided by the India-US 123 bilateral civil nuclear agreement, India's safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the draft of exemption circulated by the US to the 45 NSG member-countries for discussion at their conclave in Vienna.

Mukherjee's assertions make it very clear that India indeed has drawn "red lines" that will circumscribe any proposed NSG waiver. The ''red lines'' concern issues critical for India, such as its strategic deterrence, and make it clear that its attempt to step out of nuclear isolation and enter into full-scale civilian nuclear cooperation with the world will not happen under enforced conditions.

In the interview the minister has also stressed that regardless of the fate of the India-US nuclear deal the strategic ties between the two countries will continue to "develop steadily".

"Our relationship is not uni-dimensional or uni-directional. We have relationship on many other areas. It is a part of it," he said. "Improvement of Indo-US relationship has a strong bipartisan support. Therefore, I do feel that whoever occupies the office of president after the election, our relationship between India and USA will steadily develop," he added.