N-deal: Ackerman hopes India will complete internal processes By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington, Jun 27 (PTI) - Ahead of his visit to New Delhi
next week, senior U.S. Congressman Gary Ackerman has said he
looked forward to Indian government completing its "internal
processes" on the historic nuclear deal so that the accord can
be approved by the American Congress.

Maintaining that it would be foolish to squander away the
gains in the bilateral relationship of the last decade,
especially over the last three years, the New York Democrat,
who is Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Sub Committee on
Middle East and South Asia, said he strongly supported the 123
Agreement, which will operationalise the nuclear deal.

"...I strongly support the 123 agreement and I look
forward to the Government of India completing its internal
processes so that the U.S. Congress can give final approval to
this historic deal," he said.

However, he said "there was much more to the July 2005
joint statement (between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
U.S. President George W. Bush) than civil nuclear cooperation
and there is much more to U.S.-India relations than just the
123 agreement."
"In fact the 2005 statement covered a broad range of
issues among which civil nuclear cooperation was just one,"
Democratic Congressman Ackerman said at a hearing titled 'More
Than Just The 123 Agreement: The Future of US-Indo Relations.'

Ackerman, whose remarks came amid the UPA-left deadlock
over the nuclear deal, will be in New Delhi between July 2 and
4 even as sequencing of his overall five-nation trip that will
also take him to Egypt, Israel, Pakistan and Afghanistan is
still being worked out, sources told PTI.

He is expected to exchange views with the leadership in
New Delhi on the Indo-US nuclear deal and other issues of
mutual interest.

At the hearing, Ackerman said on Wednesday that the
various initiatives were not just pronouncements made by heads
of government and forgotten, but "they've been matched by
follow-up and demonstrable success."

"One area of long-standing cooperation I haven't mentioned
is counter-terrorism. India has been victim of terrorism for
far longer than have we.

"Their experience with terrorism is deep and is as recent
as the bombings last month in Jaipur, in which a series of
seven blasts occurred in twenty minutes at crowded markets and
near Hindu temples," said Ackerman, who has been the Co-Chair
of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans in
the House of Representatives.

The "terrible attack serves as another gruesome reminder
of how much in common the United States and India have when it
comes to the global fight against terror and how we must
redouble our efforts to develop effective tools to defeat
terrorism and violent religious extremism," he said.

The senior Democrat, however, maintained that differences
with New Delhi would also have to be pointed out -- the major
one being that of India's relations with Iran.

"I hope that India's officials will hear and understand
the U.S. view of Iran: that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons
and regional hegemony is a serious threat posed to
international peace and stability in the Middle East and the
vital national security interests of the United States.

"I believe Indian officials understand the U.S.
perspective on Iran and I know that India shares U.S.
opposition to Iran possessing nuclear weapons. Their
courageous IAEA votes demonstrate that," Ackerman said.

He said he had "a very difficult time understanding why
Government of India continues to pursue a pipeline with Iran
and Pakistan at a time when other nations ... are not just
implementing U.N. approved sanctions... but are going further
by cutting off access to banking services and discouraging
other economic interactions with Iran."

Ackerman made it clear that he was not suggesting that
India abandon its historically independent foreign policy.
"What I am suggesting is that India join the other nations who
are doing more than just implementing U.N. sanctions in an
effort to economically isolate Iran...," he said.

Senior Republican from South Carolina, Joe Wilson, also
argued that the U.S. ties with India went beyond 123
agreement.

"The United States and India need to continue to be fair
and willing partners on economic, energy, and national
security issues. I hope the political difficulties that have
stalled movement on the civil nuclear agreement can be
overcome. I also hope that we cooperate with India on
advancing research into new energy sources.

"With their rapidly expanding economy, the people of
India will increasingly need access to affordable energy as
will the people of the United States. This will be mutually
beneficial," he said.

Walter Andersen, Associate Director of the South Asia
Studies Programme at the School of Advanced International
Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, said a collapse of
the initiative will not jeopardise the larger aspects of the
bilateral relationship. "India is too large, too prosperous,
and too strategically located for this to happen," he said.

Maintaining that there was only a slim chance of the deal
coming through in the face of strong opposition from the
Communist parties, Stephen Cohen, a Senior Fellow at the
Brookings Institution, argued that the next administration
must see the process through.

The nuclear deal is "the most powerful tool the U.S. and
India have for putting our partnership on a strong footing,"
said Teresita Schaffer of the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies.