AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
New Delhi, India: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday tried to calm fears of India's political and scientific establishments that a historic civilian nuclear deal with the US would blunt India's nuclear weapons programme.
“We have made it clear to the US that India's strategic programme is totally outside the purview of the agreements reached on civilian nuclear cooperation,” Singh said in parliament at the end of an intense six-hour debate.
“We will not accept any conditions that go beyond the July 18 and the March 2 (accords),” Singh said, referring to two separate meetings between him and US President George W. Bush in Washington and in New Delhi during which the deal was cobbled.
“There'll be no shifting of goalposts,” he said.
Singh however said the deal was crucial to meet the energy needs of power-starved India which is aiming to sustain annual economic growth of eight to 10 percent.
Singh's comments came in response to criticism of the deal from eight nuclear scientists, opposition groups as well as Singh's own legislative allies.
India's nuclear weapons programme is dependent on India's “own assessment and this will be the cardinal principle of the nuclear policy,” Singh said in parliament's upper house.
Under the pact, India has agreed to open most of its atomic reactors to international inspection but is allowed keep pre-selected military nuclear facilities out of public scrutiny.
In return, India will receive unfettered access to long-denied US nuclear technology to generate power.
Washington has been withholding civilian nuclear know-how from India since 1974 when New Delhi conducted its first atomic test. New Delhi conducted more tests in 1998.
The deal, passed by the House of Representatives 359-68, now has to be approved by the US Senate.
However some US lawmakers are demanding a greater convergence of views between India and Washington on policies on Iran, which New Delhi considers “a civilisational friend” even though it is opposed to Tehran acquiring nuclear weapons' capability.
Some US lawmakers have also questioned whether India can be trusted with critical nuclear secrets and have demanded that stringent safeguards be put in place.
A radical deal with India, which is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, would also blow holes in US non-proliferation policies, they say.
In his speech, Singh said negotiations with the US on nuclear issues would not change fundamental policies.
“India's foreign policy is determined strongly by our national interest… We have not allowed any country, howsoever powerful, to influence our policy,” the prime minister said.
India would also not allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities, Singh said amid applause.
Earlier, former Hindu nationalist foreign minister Yashwant Sinha kicked off the discussions saying the deal was flawed because India would have to rely on imported nuclear fuel.
“How can India be energy secure on the strength of imported reactors and imported fuel?” he argued.
“We have already accepted a watertight separation plan (of military and civilian facilities) that does not apply to nuclear weapons states. We have accepted safeguard agreement in perpetuity. It will bind India in perpetuity,” he said.
Sinha said some of his concerns were shared by key nuclear scientists who had nurtured India's nuclear programme for decades.
Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury, whose party lends key support to Singh's government, sought the prime minister's assurance that the arrangement would not hijack India's foreign policy and that it would also not mean automatic support to all US policies.
