By IANS
New Delhi : With the future of the civil nuclear deal looking uncertain, US ambassador David Mulford Monday underlined the need for India to wrap up a safeguards pact with the IAEA so that it can be completed in the lifetime of the Bush administration.
Underscoring the importance of concluding the deal, the envoy hinted at difficulties in reviving it under the next US administration despite broad bipartisan support in Washington to expand the relationship with New Delhi.
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”.
“It is practical for India to complete the entire process this year. Time has been passing,” Mulford told reporters, when asked how he viewed the prospects of the nuclear deal given the political opposition to it in New Delhi.
“If it does not finish this time, it will have to wait for a new Congress and a new administration in the US. There will be practical problems,” he said.
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.
“We are not pushing. We are patiently waiting for India to complete its process and conclude a safeguards pact with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” he said.
“The US respects India’s political process. It underlines our keen desire not to interfere in the domestic political process.
“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.”
Asked if he had any time framework in mind, the envoy said: “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. It’s not constructive to speculate,” he replied, when asked about the deal’s fate in the 45-nation 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.
“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.
“When a decision was taken to include India in the system, that required a change in the US atomic law for the first time.
“Democrats and Republicans voted together because of the views they took of India, India’s position in the world and its record in non-proliferation,” the ambassador added.
But 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 goes not through. It’s here to stay, it’s going to grow and it’s going to become one of the most important relationships in the world.
“It’s going to be a key relationship for the US in the next 20 years. Common interests are bringing us together,” he added.