07-20-2008, 11:17 PM
<b>Amending domestic law will not have bearing on US: scientist</b>
New Delhi (PTI): As the government said it was open to the idea of amending the domestic law to counter the impact of the US Hyde Act on the country's energy security, a top former nuclear scientist on Sunday said it would have no influence on American actions in case India conducted another nuclear test.
Maintaining that the Atomic Energy Act could certainly be amended to ensure private participation in the nuclear power sector, former Atomic Energy Commission Chairman P K Iyengar said in a statement "if we pass a law saying that we will retain the right to test, it will have no influence on the actions of the US.
"If and when we test, they can simply quote the 123 Agreement and the Hyde Act and pull out all their nuclear materials, leaving us devastated."
Observing that many people including parliamentarians were supporting the Indo-US nuclear deal due to certain "misconceptions", he said just as the Hyde Act was "not binding on us, our laws are not binding on the US".
"The only option here is to re-negotiate the 123 Agreement and have the clause inserted there. However, the Americans are unlikely to agree to this, since it goes against their non-proliferation policy," Iyengar said, adding that India was not a signatory to the Non Proliferation Treaty.
New Delhi (PTI): As the government said it was open to the idea of amending the domestic law to counter the impact of the US Hyde Act on the country's energy security, a top former nuclear scientist on Sunday said it would have no influence on American actions in case India conducted another nuclear test.
Maintaining that the Atomic Energy Act could certainly be amended to ensure private participation in the nuclear power sector, former Atomic Energy Commission Chairman P K Iyengar said in a statement "if we pass a law saying that we will retain the right to test, it will have no influence on the actions of the US.
"If and when we test, they can simply quote the 123 Agreement and the Hyde Act and pull out all their nuclear materials, leaving us devastated."
Observing that many people including parliamentarians were supporting the Indo-US nuclear deal due to certain "misconceptions", he said just as the Hyde Act was "not binding on us, our laws are not binding on the US".
"The only option here is to re-negotiate the 123 Agreement and have the clause inserted there. However, the Americans are unlikely to agree to this, since it goes against their non-proliferation policy," Iyengar said, adding that India was not a signatory to the Non Proliferation Treaty.