New Delhi, June 9
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh firmly believes that the atmosphere at the pull aside meeting with US President George Bush yesterday at Heiligendamm, the Baltic coast venue of the G-8 Summit in Germany, was “very positive” but the Indo-US nuke-deal would take some more time requiring tough negotiations before “we see light at the end of the tunnel.”
Refusing to say with any finality that the 123 Agreement will go through, Dr Singh told mediapersons on board PM’s special aircraft today on his return from Berlin that several ideas have been thrown up in an ongoing process which is nothing new.
“All we are interested in is the substance of the 123 Agreement which should conform to what I had told the people of India and what I had conveyed to Parliament. There are positive feelings for India and I think Bush feels a certain sense of ownership of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. I was quite satisfied with my meeting.”
In response to a pointed question whether the nuclear deal can be concluded within a time frame like till September or even before that, the Prime Minister stressed, “I did not discuss a time table....it will be premature on my part to indicate any deadline.”
Explaining that it was too brief a meeting, he said the US President was not well yesterday. In spite of that Bush “did us the honour of pulling me aside and discussing this (the nuclear) issue.”
Dr Singh disclosed that Bush took copious notes and appreciated India’s concerns on reprocessing, voluntary moratorium and not a cap on future testing and ensuring fuel supply in perpetuity.
The Prime Minister observed that national security adviser M.K Naryanan had a detailed meeting with his American counterpart Stephen Hadley.
Asked about the Opposition criticism to the 123 Agreement, Dr Singh said he was not bothered. “I am quite sure any patriotic Indian, if he or she had the reins of running this country, would have welcomed the deal. What we are attempting would end India’s nuclear isolation. Energy is our critical bottleneck. Environment friendly energies are the talk of the town. Nuclear energy happens to be one such clean energy. If we get access to international cooperation and technology, it will enhance our development objectives.”
The Prime Minister maintained that there is no solution to problems other than through peaceful negotiations, including resolving irritants between neighbours in this region. He said German unification and the fall of the Berlin wall was considered unthinkable but it happened. He hoped this rule will also apply to the Indian subcontinent and India and Pakistan will find ways to live in harmony and resolve all bilateral issues peacefully by sitting across the table. Stressing that what is going on in Pakistan is their internal matter, the Prime Minister said India does not interfere in the neighbour’s or anybody else’s processes of governance.
Dr Singh said he had been sharing his anxieties about India’s neighbours with the world leaders. On the recent attempt to expel Tamils from Colombo, he hoped that better sense would prevail. It involves human rights of citizens.
“These are not civilised ways of dealing with them. I heard that this move has been stayed by their Supreme Court. We share the concern.” He said there are no international constraints on India’s development. If there are problems they are local. The government’s primary concern is to get rid of poverty, ignorance, disease and the urban-rural divide.
“If we do succeed in sustaining 9-10 per cent growth rate, pay adequate attention to agriculture and Human Resource Development, I think nothing can stop our march ahead. In this direction India needs a favourable environment. We need peace in our region. We need a fast growing world economy. That is why international polity matters to us. I feel today the environment is certainly favourable to the realisation of our basic development ambitions”, he added.
