New Delhi
8 October 2007
Three members of the United States House of Representatives, all
Democrats, have asked the Nuclear Suppliers Group to consider extracting a
commitment from India that she will support ratification of Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty (CTBT) and Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT).
"[We] urge your approval of the [India-United States nuclear] deal contingent on two
factors: 1. Entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; and, 2. Entry into force
of a fissile materials cut off treaty with robust and effective international verifications
measures," reads the letter written by Ms Ellen Tauscher, Mr Edward Markey and Mr
Sam Farr.
The letter is dated October 4. It is addressed to the foreign ministers of the NSG. Ms
Ellen Tauscher is the chairperson of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House
Armed Services Committee.
The letter recalls that all States are also obliged to respect United Nations Security
Council Resolution 1172 of June 1998, which calls upon India and Pakistan to refrain
from further nuclear testing, sign the CTBT, and stop the production of fissile material for
weapons purposes. That resolution, Ms Tauscher points out, also "encourages all States
to prevent the export of equipment, materials or technology that could in any way assist
programs in India or Pakistan for nuclear weapons."
It quotes Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as saying at a 2005 international
conference on facilitating CTBT entry into force: "Let me be clear ... we welcome the
continuing voluntary moratorium on weapons testing, but this cannot be a substitute for
entry into force of the permanent and legally binding treaty."
The letter comes barely a few days after a bipartisan non-binding resolution was
introduced in the US House of Representatives, asking the Bush Administration not to
seek an NSG exemption for India until certain provisions of the Hyde Act are complied
with, like a ban on the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technology to India. The
resolution was moved by Democrat Howard Berman and Republicans Ileana Ros-
Lehtinen and Jeff Fortenberry.
Also last week, two other Democrats, Senator Barbara Boxer of California and Senator
John Kerry from Massachussetts, asked the Bush Administration to link finalisation of
the nuclear deal to India's help in resolving the crisis in Burma.
Ms Tauscher and Mr Markey had written a letter to US President George Bush last year
in which they had said that "continuation of an Indo-Iranian defense relationship is likely
to imperil all prospects for future civil nuclear cooperation with India."
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