NEW DELHI, October 22 , SPA — India’s government said it would hold off
on finalizing a landmark civilian nuclear energy deal with the United States for at least a month after inconclusive talks with its communist political allies, who oppose the accord, according to AP.
The result of a meeting Monday between the governing Congress party and the communists seemed certain to further fuel doubts about the future of the pact.
The deal would reverse three decades of American anti-proliferation policy by allowing the U.S. to send nuclear fuel and technology to India, which has been cut off from the global atomic trade by its refusal to sign nonproliferation treaties and its testing of nuclear
weapons.
Billed as the cornerstone of a new partnership between India and the U.S., the deal has faced growing opposition in India, especially among communist parties that are key to the survival of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government. Singh said earlier this month he would not risk the stability of his government to push the deal through.
And after Monday’s meeting, he appeared no closer to having the support of the communists, who have threatened «serious consequences» if the government pursues the pact.
«The next meeting of the committee will be held on November 16, 2007,» Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters. The two sides formed the committee in September to examine the deal. Each meeting has been followed by word of another meeting, but little else.
Singh’s government, meanwhile, hasn’t taken the next steps in cinching the deal _ negotiating separate agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Suppliers Group, a group of nations that export nuclear material.
–SPA