New Delhi
18 February 2008
The UPA Government's objective is to enable India to have a wide
choice of partners in pursuing nuclear commerce but we cannot attain this objective
without the United States taking the lead on our behalf, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh's Special Envoy Shyam Saran said.
Mr Saran, who is the Prime Minister's pointman for the India-US nuclear deal, said that
whatever be the reservations that have been expressed about India's relations with the
US, no other friendly country has the necessary standing to lead the process of opening
up the existing multilateral regime to accommodate India.
"Yes, Russia and France are countries which are friendly to India and extremely keen to
engage in nuclear commerce with us. However, there should be no doubt that neither
they nor others will make an exception for India unilaterally unless the Nuclear
Suppliers' Group adjusts its guidelines in the same manner as the US is prepared to
do," he said, delivering a lecture on "India and the Global Nuclear Domain" at the India
International Centre here on Monday.
"The US," he suggested, "is in a unique position precisely because it initiated these
restrictive regimes in the first place and also because it remains the pre-eminent source
of new sensitive technologies." We cannot dispense with the role of the US, he said in
response to a question when the floor was thrown open for questions.
Mr Saran, who was the foreign secretary when the July 18, 2005 Joint Statement was
signed in Washington, conceded that there are several extraneous and prescriptive
provisions in the Hyde Act which India does not agree with but care was taken to exclude
such provisions from the 123 Agreement.
He also acknowledged that there is "no calendar deadline" for clinching the nuclear deal
with the US. "The sooner we wrap it up, the better," he said in response to another
question, adding that the level of political uncertainty will rise more with time.
Mr Saran maintained that the Hyde Act does not impose any restraint on India's
"ongoing" strategic programme but he submitted nevertheless that while India strives to
retain her strategic autonomy for the future, "it is equally important that we ensure as
expeditiously as possible, that all the elements of our credible minimum deterrent are in
place." India's nuclear doctrine incorporates the concept of "a deterrent which is credible
at a minimum level of nuclear and delivery assets," he added for good measure.
He asserted that India's legal right to test a nuclear device in her supreme national
interest has not been compromised. "We don't need anybody's permission," he said,
adding that it would be politically naive to expect the NSG to allow testing without
attracting consequences. He cited the 1998 nuclear tests to buttress his argument.
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