New Delhi
27 July 2006
The United States has said that the passage of the Bill on civilian
nuclear cooperation by the House of Representatives did not contain any elements that
were not consistent with the July 18, 2005 India-US Joint Statement.
The charge d'Affaires of the US Embassy in New Delhi, Mr Geoffrey Pyatt, told reporters
at a news conference that there had been "no moving of goalposts" and concerns or
criticism on this count were "without foundation".
"India," he said, "is not a target of [US] non-proliferation efforts." He asserted that the
legislation imposed "zero constraint on [India's] production of fissile material" and
dismissed talk of the US bringing in "CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) through
back door".
"The legislation that has been passed represents no undertaking by the Indian
government. It is simply a statement of fact of how the US government will be obliged to
behave," Pyatt said.
On the issue of testing, he said the legislation passed by the House only reaffirmed
India's declaration of unilateral moratorium on explosion of nuclear device. He, however,
pointed out that US law made it impossible for Washington to continue supplying nuclear
technology to India if she were to detonate a nuclear device.
Washington insisted that the requirement of yearly reporting by the Bush administration
on India's nuclear activity does not put any burden on India but was a normal feature
under the American Constitutional system wherein US President reports to the Congress.
"India is not required to disclose anything.... There is zero obligation on Indian
government to report to the US Congress," he said, and added that hundreds of such
reports were submitted by the US Government to the Congress every year on a wide
range of issues relating to US foreign policy, including that on free trade and relations
with allies.
"It does not impart that India will be required to allow international scrutiny of its nuclear
facilities beyond that inherent in the IAEA safeguards arrangement" that New Delhi will
be working out with the international nuclear watchdog, he observed.
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