Indo-US nuclear deal: Spanner in the works?

Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh is due to meet his US executive counterpart president Bush in a short while from now at the Oval Office. Doubtless a few pats on the back would be in order for both sides at the manner in which they have marched in tandem trying to push the Indo-US nuclear deal through its varied stages. There would be also be a few queries from the Indian premier that the US president would do well to address comprehensively. Increasingly, India and the United States appear to be talking about two very different deals.

In a development that already has the opposition political parties in India saying, ''I told you so,'' the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has attached an enabling resolution with the 123 Agreement asking the US to 'prevent' other Nuclear Suppliers Group members from continuing nuclear cooperation with India in the event of a nuclear test.

The committee has adopted a resolution which says,''...it is the policy of the US to seek to prevent the transfer to India of nuclear equipment, materials, or technology from other participating governments in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) or from any other source.'' It states further that such a contingency would come into play if nuclear commerce between India and the US should be  suspended, or terminated, as per provisions of the Hyde Act, the Atomic Energy Act or any other US law.

In plain english this would mean that the US would be bound to prevent other countries from transacting nuclear commerce with India.

Since such scenarios have been routinely dismissed by Indian authorities as inapplicable since they form no part of the 123 Agreement, the US Senate has gone ahead  and added a twist to the tail by stating that the nuclear deal would be subject to provisions of the Hyde Act, Atomic Energy Act and other US laws.

For the UPA government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh this, potentially, is the most disastrous assertion that the US Senate could have made, for in the running battle that has characterised the entire debate over the Indo-US nuclear deal over the last so many years, the Indian Government has asserted time and again that the Hyde Act has no role to play in the matter and that all understandings arrived at under the 123 Agreement will hold supreme.

Now, under the Rule of Construction, the Bill says that nothing in the agreement shall be construed to supersede the legal requirements of the Hyde Act or the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.

This directly contradicts all assertions made so far by the government that the 123 Agreement supersedes the Hyde Act.

The Bill also binds the president to certify to the Congress that the implementation of the agreement is consistent with the obligation of the US under various non-proliferation treaties. A final twist is the resolution asking the Congress to urge the Indian government to sign an 'Additional Protocol' with IAEA as soon as possible.

All this has emanated from the committee headed by Joe Biden, who has recently been tom-tommed as a great India ''supporter''.Reportedly, he has expressed his happiness at the prompt response from his committee in putting up the Bill for the Senate's consideration.