By IANS
New Delhi : As the fate of the civil nuclear deal continues to hang in the balance, the US Monday stressed the need for India to complete the process during the tenure of the Bush administration, failing which “practical problems” will make it more difficult in the future.
“It is practical to complete the processes, if we can, during the course of this administration. Time has been passing,” US ambassador David Mulford told reporters, when asked how he viewed the prospects of the nuclear deal given the political opposition by Left parties in India.
“If the processes are not finished during the term of this administration, it will have to wait for a new Congress and a new administration in the US. There will be practical problems,” he said while hinting that the deal may not be taken up till the new dispensation settles down in office.
Keeping in mind the way the Left allies of the government reacted the last time Mulford asked India to conclude the deal quickly, the envoy was cautious this time and emphasised that the US was waiting for India to complete its political process.
“It is desirable that we move forward. But we are not pushing. We are patiently waiting for India to complete the processes,” he said while alluding to the ongoing Indian negotiations to conclude a safeguards pact with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“The US respects India’s political process. It underlines our keen desire not to interfere in the domestic political process,” he said.
The Left allies of the government virtually hold the veto on the nuclear deal and have made it clear to the government on many an occasion to either choose survival or the deal. According to an understanding with the ruling coalition, the Left parties will first scrutinize the IAEA safeguards pact before allowing the government to proceed with the deal.
“We will wait for India to work through. The US will be ready to do its own part. I hope it will be successful,” he said, while making a strong pitch for the deal which he stressed was “good for India, good for the US and good for the world.
“The earlier we start, the better it is,” he replied when asked if he had any time frame in mind.
Asked how the negotiations would play out for India in the nuclear suppliers’ cartel, he replied: “I can’t speak for the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group). I don’t know how much time it will take for the NSG. We know there are different views in the NSG.”
The NSG has to take a favourable view of the India-US nuclear deal and amend its guidelines to allow global trade in nuclear technology and fuel with New Delhi, a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Mulford indicated at difficulties that may beset the nuclear deal under a new American dispensation, hinting that the momentum generated by the historic July 18, 2005 India-US nuclear understanding may peter out in the next few years.
“Four years ago when the US president decided to make an exception for India, he took a radical step in the nuclear non-proliferation history,” he said.
“This is an extremely sensitive issue in the US. It is a major, major issue. The public deeply cares about it,” he said while hinting that the long labyrinthine process and old debates may be revived making the nuclear deal that much more difficult in the near future.
But he said that even if the deal were not to go through in the near future, it would not affect the “diverse, multi-faceted nature” of India-US ties, which he insisted would be “a key relationship in the world and one of the most important for the US in the next 20-25 years”.
“We are partners with India, we are friends with India. There is no question of being disappointed,” he replied when asked whether he would be disappointed if the deal did not go through.
Alluding to a manifold increase in bilateral trade, defence ties and people-to-people contacts spurred by a streamlined visa system by the US, Mulford said: “You look at the magnitude and diversity of the relationship. This relationship is not going to be adversely affected if the deal does not go through.”
“It’s here to stay, it’s going to grow and it’s going to be a key relationship for the US in the next 20 years,” he added. In the last nearly four years since he moved into Roosevelt House, 2.2 million visas were issued for visiting Indians. India accounts for 60 per cent of all H1B visas issued by the US, which is more than all the countries put together, the envoy said.