New Delhi
18 August 2007
What will be the fate of the agreed text of the 123 Agreement if the
government does not proceed further to operationalise the proposed civil nuclear
cooperation with the United States? What are the strategic implications of putting the
next steps on hold? These, and other questions, continued to engage the attention of
South Block through the evening after the CPI(M) asked the government to not go ahead
with the 123 Agreement.
Sources said that Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon briefed Minister of External
Affairs Pranab Mukherjee on the intricacies of the nuclear deal with the US. Mr Menon is
understood to have advised the minister about the pitfalls and discussed various
options available to the government. Even as officials from the Ministry of External
Affairs went into a huddle, sources familiar with the protracted negotiations on the 123
Agreement told this newspaper that there was "no red line or deadline" for New Delhi to
operationalise the agreement and scope for renegotiation could not be ruled out.
A well-placed source said that the "agreed text" of the 123 Agreement has only been
frozen, it has not been signed. The formal signing was expected at an appropriate time,
possibly when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited New Delhi. "At this
moment, a delay will only delay the process, the agreement does not fall through," the
source said, adding: "It is difficult to comment or predict what will happen to the text if
the US Congress does not pass it. We are checking with them."
Another source, in turn, said: "The text has not been signed yet, so it can be amended."
(Washington has maintained that it cannot be renegotiated.) The source pointed out that
it took China 12 years for a similar agreement. "If nothing is done for a few months or
years, the text will still remain and either side can start again with the same text or a
renegotiated text. If india takes a strong stand, the text can be renegotiated by this US
administration ot its successor administration," the source explained, adding: "For 60
years we have not had such a divisive foreign policy, one has to wait and see how it will
pan out. Looking ahead, there needs to be a national consensus on this crucial issue."
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