By IANS
New Delhi : US Ambassador David Mulford Monday said that the 123 pact "preserved the discretion of the US president" to terminate civil nuclear cooperation if New Delhi were to conduct a nuclear test, but assured that this would not disrupt global fuel supply for Indian reactors.
The envoy also underlined that time was of utmost importance in completing the remaining steps to make operational the deal that would lead to the "normalisation of civil nuclear relations between India and the US and end India's international nuclear isolation" after a gap of three decades.
The envoy stressed that both sides needed to complete certain steps – India concluding a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group effecting a clean rule change to permit global civil nuclear commerce in the next two months so that the US Congress could vote on it before the election fever kicked off next year.
"The text of the 123 pact does not mention testing. In case of such an event, the US laws will apply to it," Mulford told reporters here in a telephone conversation from Wisconsin that was arranged by the US embassy.
"The agreement is quite clear about the US' right of return of nuclear technology and fuel sold to India," he stressed.
"The discretionary power, as under the US laws, of the US president in such a case has been preserved," the envoy said while stressing that the US response would depend on the situation at that moment and the US president would consult others before taking a decision.
"It's a civil nuclear agreement. It wasn't a negotiation over India's strategic capability," Mulford clarified.
"It's (India detonating a nuclear device) a futuristic event. We hope India's unilateral moratorium will hold on," he said.
The American envoy was emphatic that test or no test India had been assured uninterrupted fuel supplies for civilian reactors that it would place under international safeguards.
India has made it clear that it retains its sovereign right to test a nuclear device while at the same time retaining its voluntary moratorium on testing.
"The US will help India in creating a strategic fuel reserve. (In case of India conducting a nuclear test), the US may withdraw fuel supplied by it, but fuel from other countries will not be withdrawn," Mulford said.
"We will engage other countries to continue supply of fuel," he stressed.
The nuclear deal is part of the larger US effort to deepen strategic relations between the world's two major democracies and to assist India in its desire to become a world power, he said.
Mulford said he was confident that the US Congress would clear the bilateral pact as it enjoyed broad bipartisan support.
When asked whether China would prove difficult in the NSG, the envoy said he was hopeful that the NSG, too, would clear this historic deal by consensus.
"The NSG in general is favourable to the agreement. We are confident we can move this forward," he said.
The text of the 123 pact, finalised after tortuous negotiations in Washington recently, will be made public in the next few days. The US will unveil the text as soon as India presents it to parliament.
When asked what was the most important concession the US made to India in the course of highly complex and politically sensitive negotiations, the envoy said it was giving New Delhi advance consent to reprocess US-origin spent fuel.
Recalling the last round of critical negotiations that stretched to two extra days, he said the atmosphere was "friendly and constructive" and there was not a moment of acrimony between the two sides.
"There was good will and good humour. Both sides negotiated with strength and conviction," he said while alluding to the mood among Indian and American negotiators last week.