NEW DELHI, Feb. 9 APP: US ambassador to India, David Mulford said it is now and never situation for Indo-US nuclear agreement and such deal can never be offered to New Delhi again before 2010.
In an interview with Karan Thapar in the CNN-IBN programme Devil’s Advocate, David Mulford while speaking about various aspects of the Indo-US deal said certainly, this deal would not be revived and offered by any administration, Democratic or Republican, before 2010, which is after the life of this administration in India. The interview will be telecast on Sunday night.
Explaining the situation, he said “If this is not processed in the present Congress it is unlikely that this deal will be offered again to India. It certainly would not be revived and offered by any administration, Democratic or Republican, before the year 2010, which is after the life of this administration in India. If it were to be revived it would have to go through the Committee process and I think the non-proliferation groups would insist on changes in many of the terms or additional conditions so I think the atmosphere is changing and therefore I believe and I know both Republicans and Democrats believe in the United States this is the time to finish this deal.
When questioned on the present debate going on in India over the nuclear deal, he said Americans are puzzled if this agreement was not immediately embraced and activated by India.
He pointed out that the Bush administration and Congress had changed the country’s 1954 Atomic Energy Act to accommodate India and this was the first time such a change had been made. He said this made the deal “an initiative of historic importance’. He also referred to the strong bipartisan support in Congress for the deal despite “deep, bitter, partisan divides in American politics”.
When questioned if India’s refusal to go ahead with the deal would damage the wider Indo-US relationship, the Ambassador first said he didn’t think so but then pointedly added that it would affect “elements of trust and discretion.”
During the course of interview Ambassador Mulford while answering question on reports of the US pressure on India not to pursue the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project said “I don’t think that’s true at all. What we’ve done is to indicate to members of the government that we have legislation on our books, which is well-known, which is directed towards discouraging development of natural resources in Iran. And this is a legislation which has not been used but it is there and it could come into play. We feel it’s only appropriate to remind people that it’s there.”
When asked if India would lose the right to carry out further nuclear tests under the agreement, he said not at all. It can make that decision at any time.
It’s a sovereign state it’s very clear that India is free to do as it wishes with regard to future testing. It’s also clear that if it does test then certain things may or may not happen that are prescribed in the agreement. It is all visible there, transparently, for anyone to see.”
When asked whether India would be able to carryout reprocessing, he said “the right was granted upfront for reprocessing as a part of the 123 Agreement. That’clear “it was granted as a right upfront the right to reprocess is recognized in the agreement.
When asked whether the nuke deal would facilitate full civil nuclear co-operation between India and America, the ambassador said, “I don’t think it’s a problem. That happens to be US law and it applies to the whole world including India.”
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