By IRNA
Berlin : Former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Pierre Goldschmidt lambasted the “catastrophic” nuclear cooperation accord between the US and India.
Speaking at a round-table discussion on Iran’s nuclear row in Berlin on Tuesday evening, Goldschmidt said, “The US-India deal is an absolute catastrophe. It is negating and jeopardizing NPT.” “It will have terrible consequences if it gets through. What’s so special about India?,” he added .
Goldschmidt who was the deputy IAEA head from 1999 to 2005, pointed out that the US-Indian atomic cooperation was “going beyond” what other non-nuclear weapons states were receiving.
Under the terms of the nuclear pact, India would get access to US civil nuclear technology and fuel, in return for opening its civilian nuclear facilities to inspection.
But its atomic weapons sites would still remain off-limits.
The deal has yet to be approved by the IAEA and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which regulates global civilian atomic trade.
The civilian nuclear energy deal between the two countries has been delayed as a result of stiff opposition from India’s communist parties.
The parties provide key support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s minority government.
They fear that the US would misuse the nuclear deal as a pretext to exert undue pressure over India’s foreign and nuclear policy.