By IANS
New Delhi : Attacking the India-US civil nuclear pact a day after it was unveiled, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday charged that it inflicted an “assault on India’s nuclear sovereignty and foreign policy options” and asked the government to secure parliamentary approval before signing it.
In its unsparing and detailed critique of the 123 pact, the BJP pointed out that the 123 pact shall be governed by the provisions of the Hyde Act 2006 and the US Atomic Energy Act 1954 and stressed that the US laws will have “stultifying impact” on New Delhi’s strategic programme.
“We demand that a Joint Parliamentary Committee be set up to examine the text in detail; that, after it has submitted its report, parliamentary approval be secured before this deal is signed; and that all further action on it be suspended until this sequence is completed,” senior BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie said in a statement here.
“The BJP is of the clear view that this agreement is an assault on our nuclear sovereignty and our foreign policy options. We are, therefore, unable to accept this agreement as finalised,” the former central ministers said.
The BJP’s unusually aggressive stance on the nuclear deal is set to give the government a tough time as it readies to present the 123 pact in the monsoon session of parliament this month with a view to build cross-party consensus on the nuclear deal.
In its unstinting critique of the pact, the BJP went one step further and demanded that appropriate amendments be made in the constitution and laws to ensure that all agreements which affect the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security shall be ratified by parliament.
In particular, the BJP questioned the government’s claim that by not mentioning nuclear testing, India has retained its autonomy of conducting a nuclear test.
“When national laws apply, which includes the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the Hyde Act of 2006 which specifically forbid nuclear tests, where is the question of India having the freedom to test once we enter this agreement?
“In other words, we are being forced to accept a bilateral Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty with more stringent provisions than the multilateral CTBT,” the BJP leaders said.
The chief opposition party also sought to rebut the government’s claim that the 123 pact assures India uninterrupted fuel supplies for its civilian reactors. They held that the commitment of the US in the agreement is “vague and futuristic”.
“Clearly, therefore, with regard to fuel supplies, reprocessing rights and the right to recall the equipments supplied, the US has maintained its position as in the Hyde Act. India, on the other hand, has accepted legally enforceable commitments in perpetuity,” the BJP charged.
“The US retains the right to recall all the supplies that it has made to India under this agreement. What is worse is that under article 16(3), despite the termination of this agreement, the safeguards in perpetuity will continue to apply so long as any material or equipment or any of the by-products thereof remain on Indian soil,” the BJP leaders said.
The BJP claimed that the agreement would only lead to limited civil nuclear cooperation as it only talks of cooperation relating to “aspects of the associated nuclear fuel cycle”.
Furthermore, the pact forbids the transfer of sensitive technologies relating to enrichment and heavy water production till an amendment to this agreement has been carried out.
“Under the same provision, the US will retain the right of end-use verification of all its supplies. This will ensure that American inspectors will ‘roam around our nuclear installations’, a fear which was completely discounted by the prime minister while replying to the Rajya Sabha debate on Aug 17,” the BJP leaders said.