Hyde Act provisions can be used to terminate 123 pact, says Left
Special Correspondent
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“There are number of issues on which the pact falls short of Manmohan’s assurance in Parliament” |
NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Tuesday reminded the Government that they had expressed serious concern about the various conditions inserted into the Henry Hyde Act passed by U.S. Congress as a number of them pertained to the strategic goals of the United States.
The issues identified then and recapitulated now included annual certification and reporting to U.S. Congress by the President on a variety of foreign policy issues of India being congruent to that of the U.S.; Indian participation and formal declaration of support for the U.S.’ controversial Proliferation Security Initiative; and India conforming to various bilateral/multilateral agreements such as the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Australia Group.
Addressing a press conference after a Left parties’ coordination committee meeting here, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said that while all these were part of the Hyde Act, the 123 agreement referred only to the narrow question of supply of nuclear materials and cooperation on nuclear matters.
“Wide-ranging”
“The provisions of the Hyde Act are far wider than the 123 agreement and could be used to terminate the 123 agreement not only in the eventuality of a nuclear test but also for India not conforming to the U.S. foreign policy. The termination clause is wide-ranging and does not limit itself only to violation of the agreement as a basis for cessation or termination of the contract,” a joint statement by four Left leaders said.
They said that, therefore, the extraneous provisions of the Hyde Act could be used in the future to terminate the 123 agreement; in such an eventuality, India would be back to complete nuclear isolation, while accepting IAEA safeguards in perpetuity.
Sovereign right
The Left parties, they said, had well-known views against nuclear testing for weaponisation but that did not mean the acceptance of any U.S.-imposed curbs on India’s sovereign right to exercise that choice.
An important aspect of the India-U.S. nuclear cooperation was the relegation of India’s traditional commitment to universal nuclear disarmament. By getting “accommodated in a U.S.-led unequal” nuclear order, India’s leading role in advocating nuclear disarmament as a major country of the non-aligned community was being given the “go-by.”
They said that while the 123 agreement was being presented as a victory for India’s positions and conforming to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assurances in Parliament, there were a number of issues on which it fell short of what Dr. Singh had assured the House.
“While the Indian commitments are binding and in perpetuity, some of the commitments that the U.S. has made are either ambiguous or are ones that can be terminated at a future date,” the statement said.
There were other aspects such as full civilian nuclear cooperation; while the 123 agreement refers to it superficially, it denies cooperation or access in any form whatsoever to fuel, enrichment, reprocessing and heavy water production technologies.
“Commercial gains”
“The flawed nuclear cooperation agreement cannot be justified on the debatable basis of augmenting our energy resources or achieving energy security. The motivation for the U.S. is commercial gains which will accrue for its corporates running into billions of dollars,” they said.
Tags: 123 agreement, hyde act, nuclear deal, nuke deal, Politics, the Left
