Abuja, October 15
With the UPA government virtually putting on hold the Indo-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today talked to US President George W. Bush and told him that there were difficulties in operationalising the deal.

“The Prime Minister explained to Bush that certain difficulties have arisen with respect to the operationalisation of the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement,” a release issued by Prime Minister’s media adviser Sanjaya Baru said.

The release said Bush called the Prime Minister over telephone and discussed both the deal and issues relating to the Doha Round of the World Trade Organisation.

The call came through late in the evening after attempts to establish contact between the two leaders did not come through.

The release did not contain any further details on the nuclear deal between the two countries but the conversation came in the wake of the statement made by the Prime Minister on Friday that it would be a disappointment if the deal does not come through and that it was “not the end of life”.

The Prime Minister, who had staked a lot in clinching the deal and to get it operationalised, made the Friday statement in the backdrop of unrelenting opposition to the deal from the Left parties which had warned of grave consequences, an euphemism for withdrawing support to the UPA government, if the deal was implemented.

The government was faced with a very tight deadline for operationalising the deal under a schedule which would have first made it go to the IAEA for concluding a safeguards agreement backed up by a clearance from the Nuclear Suppliers Group for fuel assurances before the US Congress clears the 123 agreement for lifting the embargo on India in nuclear cooperation. — PTI

New Delhi, October 15
US Ambassador David C. Mulford met external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee this evening and expressed concern over delay in next steps by India with regard to the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The unscheduled meeting assumes importance in the backdrop of averments from none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi themselves that the government could not be risked for the sake of the nuclear deal, which has drawn bitter criticism not only from the entire Opposition but also the Left allies.

A US Embassy spokeswoman here confirmed that Mulford met Mukherjee but declined to divulge any details.

It is understood that the American envoy expressed fears that the nuclear deal was being guillotined at the political altar. Mulford is also understood to have impressed upon Pranab the need for India to sew up necessary India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) so that step two of the process, securing a special waiver for India from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, could begin at the earliest. Mulford, sources said, stressed on the thin time line available for taking the nuclear deal to its logical conclusion.

The final step three of the whole process is putting up the 123 agreement after clearing the IAEA and the NSG hurdles before the US Congress for an up-down vote.

Mukherjee, on his part, is understood to have explained to the US Ambassador the difficulties before the Indian government in going any further on this issue at this point of time in view of strident opposition from the Left allies. The minister also made it clear that the government had only hit the pause button, but was committed to take it up in right earnest at an appropriate time.

The Americans are quite concerned about the Indian government’s attitude which they feel is a turn-around. The Americans have also discreetly cautioned New Delhi about the repercussions on India’s track record in honouring international agreements.

Washington has invested a lot of political and diplomatic capital in the nuclear deal, which is unprecedented because there is no other instance of a single-country exemption on nuclear commerce from an international regime, which this deal represents.

The nuclear deal also marks a dramatic evolution in the US position as the USA, from being the principal motivating force and main architect of a global non-proliferation regime established about three decades ago and aimed principally at India, has itself become the principal catalyst for exempting India from this regime. This means an India-specific exemption from the application of the NSG guidelines, and from the application of the requirement of full-scope safeguards.