PM-Bush to meet in Heilingendamm

JYOTI MALHOTRA

New Delhi, May 7 : The stage is set for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US president George Bush to meet on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, from June 6-8, to give a final political push to the 123 nuclear agreement that now seems on the verge of a breakthrough.

Bush called the Prime Minister at about 5.15 pm this evening, a telephone call that lasted about ten minutes, during which both leaders spoke about a variety of issues including climate change, WTO issues and the nuclear deal that is currently being negotiated between the two sides.

Contrary to recent reports delineating the death of the deal, sources here said the recent meeting between Foreign Secretary Shiv Shanker Menon and his US counterpart Nicholas Burns, the deal was ``on track’’ and was now being left to the two leaders to give it a ``political focus.’’

Burns is arriving in Delhi towards the end of May-beginning June for one more round of talks, after which Singh and Bush will meet at the G-8 German resort to finalise discussions.

Instead of getting bogged down in bureaucratic jargon which could go on endlessly, it seems as if both leaders have now decided to cut through the red tape of language and, respectively, declare victory.

The most important issue to be finalized is India’s right to conduct a nuclear test as well as the consequences that will come into force in case India decides to conduct such a test.

As for the other ticklish issue, that is the right to reprocess spent fuel, it seems as if that problem will be ``kicked down the road,’’ to be dealt with as and when the US and other countries build reactors in India, which could be at least ten years away.

It is said that during the last Menon-Burns talks, the US agreed to assure fuel supply to all nuclear reactors that they will build in India, overcoming another main hurdle in the negotiations.

On the matter of testing, Indian sources acknowledge that according to US law, the US government has the right to cease all cooperation with any country that conducts a nuclear test. Moreover, in what is called the ``right to return’’ clause, the US government in principle has the right to ask for all the material, equipment, etc, that has been supplied to the offending country (in this case, India) which conducts the nuclear test.

It seems now that New Delhi will concede the US law on ``right to return,’’ knowing well that the US Congress would simply not be willing to amend that law for India’s sake.

In return, the US will agree to ``fudge language of implementation’’ of that law. That is, even though the law requires harsh consequences, the language of the bilateral 123 agreement will be so fudged that it will not really apply to India.

Meaning, the Prime Minister will be able to tell Parliament at home that India has been able to stand up for its right to conduct a nuclear test, as and when it wants to, that it has not caved into any foreign pressure on the imposition of a moratorium on India’s right to test.

On the other hand, Bush will be able to tell his own Congress that the US law on ``right to return’’ still stands and that the US will still stand up for non-proliferation worldwide by being able to punish – if only in theory – any country guilty of violating this law by carrying out a test.

ENDS