03-19-2008, 07:15 AM
<b>N-deal: Left to send detailed questionnaire to Govt</b>
Wed, Mar 19 04:47 AM
While the IAEA still awaits confirmation from New Delhi to conclude the negotiated safeguards agreement, the Left is gearing up to prolong engagement with the Government on the IAEA negotiations and is preparing a detailed questionnaire ahead of the next meeting.
Left sources said the questionnaire would be sent to the Government, which could prepare its response before the next meeting. All parties of the Left would hold a meeting towards the month-end to clear this questionnaire.
While this process starts here, a source familiar with the India-IAEA talks in Vienna said: "Yes, the sides are close to a final text but India has to confirm to the IAEA that there is an agreement on the text. Until then, there is in fact no agreement."
The confirmation, of course, can only happen after consultations with the Left, which in turn, is in touch with its panel of experts on the nuclear deal to come up with a detailed set of questions.
The decision on a questionnaire was taken after the Government refused to hand over the full text of its agreement with the IAEA. At Monday's meeting, the Government had given the Left only a gist of what transpired in talks with the IAEA at Vienna. The Left was "unhappy" with what they were given and asked for more.
In fact, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee expressed Government's inability to give the full text of an international agreement which was supposed to be a "secret."
Attempting to allay apprehensions of the Left regarding the deal, Mukherjee said the Government was willing to answer the Left's questions on any aspect of the agreement. The Left accepted this and agreed that it would put forward a series of questions to the Government.
The questionnaire, according to Left sources, would seek answers to the Left's apprehensions about the deal like whether it would in any way bring India's nuclear programme under a more restrictive regime, how would it help seal civil nuclear cooperation agreements with Russia and France and on the impact it might have on India's capacity to follow an independent foreign policy.
The Left would also want an answer on whether the deal would make India a strategic ally of the US and whether this is an agreement only on nuclear cooperation or part of a wider agreement.
Wed, Mar 19 04:47 AM
While the IAEA still awaits confirmation from New Delhi to conclude the negotiated safeguards agreement, the Left is gearing up to prolong engagement with the Government on the IAEA negotiations and is preparing a detailed questionnaire ahead of the next meeting.
Left sources said the questionnaire would be sent to the Government, which could prepare its response before the next meeting. All parties of the Left would hold a meeting towards the month-end to clear this questionnaire.
While this process starts here, a source familiar with the India-IAEA talks in Vienna said: "Yes, the sides are close to a final text but India has to confirm to the IAEA that there is an agreement on the text. Until then, there is in fact no agreement."
The confirmation, of course, can only happen after consultations with the Left, which in turn, is in touch with its panel of experts on the nuclear deal to come up with a detailed set of questions.
The decision on a questionnaire was taken after the Government refused to hand over the full text of its agreement with the IAEA. At Monday's meeting, the Government had given the Left only a gist of what transpired in talks with the IAEA at Vienna. The Left was "unhappy" with what they were given and asked for more.
In fact, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee expressed Government's inability to give the full text of an international agreement which was supposed to be a "secret."
Attempting to allay apprehensions of the Left regarding the deal, Mukherjee said the Government was willing to answer the Left's questions on any aspect of the agreement. The Left accepted this and agreed that it would put forward a series of questions to the Government.
The questionnaire, according to Left sources, would seek answers to the Left's apprehensions about the deal like whether it would in any way bring India's nuclear programme under a more restrictive regime, how would it help seal civil nuclear cooperation agreements with Russia and France and on the impact it might have on India's capacity to follow an independent foreign policy.
The Left would also want an answer on whether the deal would make India a strategic ally of the US and whether this is an agreement only on nuclear cooperation or part of a wider agreement.