New Delhi
23 February 2006
The strategic community involved in shaping India's engagement
with the United States has said that the nuclear deal with the United States was not a
technical issue alone; it had political ramifications that could not be overlooked.
Speaking at a seminar on India-US relations, they clarified that the Department of Atomic
Energy was not at loggerheads with the Executive. Also, the July 18 joint statement was
a good bargain if implemented in letter and spirit.
National Security Advisory Board Convenor MK Rasgotra observed that an
understanding of why Washington was "courting" India was crucial for the strategic
partnership to come to fruition.
India, he felt, should be asking whether she can "manage" certain global and regional
matters on her own or with the cooperation of the United States. "The India-US joint
statement [is] good if implemented in letter and spirit," he added.
An expert on strategic matters, Dr K Subrahmanyam, in turn said the nuclear deal had to
seen from the perspective of global politics also; India-US relations, he felt, were much
bigger than the issues of nuclear safeguards, etc.
"188 out of 191 countries are members of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and all ...
are against us [becoming] a nuclear weapons state. [Therefore] one has to allow political
negotiations [to take place]," Dr Subrahmanyam said.
A former ambassador to Washington, Mr Naresh Chandra, has said that negotiations
almost always start from maximalist positions; therefore, it was wrong to assume that
the US bore ill-will towards India.
Mr Amit Mitra of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
observed that New Delhi and Washington should agree on a protocol so that India can
get access to biotechnology and nanotechnology materials and research.
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