Key US lawmaker pushes for conditional NSG waiver for India

Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington, Aug 7 (PTI) An N.S.G. waiver "inconsistent"
with Hyde Act will "jeopardise" the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal in
Congress, a key U.S. lawmaker has warned the Bush
administration, insisting that the group should agree to
terminate the pact with India if it conducts an atomic test.

Democrat Howard Berman, Chairman of the crucial House
Foreign Affairs Committee told U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice that the deal should be shelved till January
next year as there is not enough time for the Congress to
study it by September 8 when it is scheduled to meet next.

The Congressional panel will examine the 123 Agreement
when it is presented to the Congress for its approval.

"I am a friend of India and a supporter of U.S.-India
nuclear cooperation. Yet I find it incomprehensible that the
Administration apparently intends to seek or accept an
exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (N.S.G.) guidelines
for India with few or none of the conditions contained in the
Henry J. Hyde Act," Berman said in his letter to Rice which
was made public Wednesday.

While seeking a waiver to the accord from the 45-member
N.S.G. later this month, the lawmaker said it must be ensured
that exemptions agreed reflect conditions of the Hyde Act .

"An exemption inconsistent with the U.S. law will place
American firms at a severe competitive disadvantage and
undermine critical U.S. nonproliferation objectives. It will
also jeopardise congressional support for nuclear cooperation
with India in future," he said.

The administration must be mindful of several key
things like the immediate termination of all nuclear commerce
by N.S.G. member states if India detonates a nuclear explosive
device or if the I.A.E.A. determines that India has violated
its safeguards commitments, he said.

Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency
(I.A.E.A.) approved a safeguards agreement that will allow
U.N. monitors to inspect India's civilian nuclear facilities.
The deal must now get the approval of the N.S.G. members and
then be ratified by the U.S. Congress to become operational.

Berman insisted that there will have to be a prohibition
on transfer of enrichment, reprocessing and heavy water
production technology by any N.S.G. member to India, a
stipulation that N.S.G. supplier states will not allow India
to reprocess nuclear fuel except in a facility that is under
permanent and unconditional safeguards.

"All these complex issues should be examined in a
serious and detailed fashion and it would be better to shelve
the deal till the Congress meet in January 2009," he said,
adding there is not enough time to present it to Congress by
September 8 when it is scheduled to meet next.

"Even if the India-specific agreement reaches Congress
by September 8, it is unlikely that Congress will have
sufficient time to fully consider all the issues surrounding
the deal, the associated safeguards agreement, and the N.S.G.
decision -- and to ascertain their impact on U.S. and global
nonproliferation standards," Berman said.

He, however, added he was "concerned about the
potential for a significant time gap between an accelerated
N.S.G. decision and congressional action on the agreement".

"This would give other countries an unacceptable
head-start in securing commercial nuclear contracts with the
Indian Government, thus placing U.S. firms at a competitive
disadvantage," Berman said in the letter.

"In your appearance before the Foreign Affairs
Committee on February 13 of this year, you assured me that any
N.S.G. decision 'will have to be completely consistent with
the obligations of the Hyde Act'," Berman reminded Rice.

"As such, I expect you to instruct the U.S.
representative to the N.S.G. not to seek or support any
exemption for India that does not faithfully reflect all of
the Hyde Act conditions," he said.

The Bush administration is hopeful of approaching the
Congress by September 8.

But the clearance from the Congress this year is
unlikely with an early target adjournment of the session by
September 26 to facilitate Presidential and Congressional
elections.

The President, however, could call for a Lame Duck
session of Congress after the November 4 elections in order to
finish outstanding legislations like spending bills and push
the civilian nuclear deal during the phase.