06-11-2006, 09:42 AM
Sunday, June 11, 2006
US team arrives in India to sort out N-deal
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: A US delegation will reach India on Sunday (today) to iron out differences between India and the US on implementing the nuclear accord agreed in the joint statements by George Bush and Manmohan Singh in July 2005 and March 2006.
The delegation, led by Nuclear Energy, Safety and Security Director Richard Stratford, will hold three-day talks with Indian officials.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will meet either Saturday evening or on Sunday to give guidelines to the Indian officials for the talks, which are described as crucial and the last chance to prevent the deal being put on back-burner by the United States.
The United States is pressuring India to agree to some of its conditions with a plea that it would help the Bush administration secure the approval of the US Congress.
Sources said Nicholas Burns, the US under secretary of state for political affairs, had assured Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran last month in London that the Bush administration was keen on finalising the civilian nuclear deal before the US Congress goes into recess in the first week of July and then goes into âelection modeâ.
Saran was also told that next weekâs talks in Delhi were crucial to enable the administration to put an end to the debate and ask the US Congress by the end of this month to vote for the nuclear deal by passing the needed legislation.
Sources said some of the new conditions slapped by the United States for implementation of the deal were âharshâ but India would have to accept them or the US Congress may otherwise not clear the deal.
The External Affairs Ministry is, however, keeping quiet on what transpired between Saran and Burns in London and has declined to comment on some of the new conditions the Americans are trying to push.
US team arrives in India to sort out N-deal
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: A US delegation will reach India on Sunday (today) to iron out differences between India and the US on implementing the nuclear accord agreed in the joint statements by George Bush and Manmohan Singh in July 2005 and March 2006.
The delegation, led by Nuclear Energy, Safety and Security Director Richard Stratford, will hold three-day talks with Indian officials.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will meet either Saturday evening or on Sunday to give guidelines to the Indian officials for the talks, which are described as crucial and the last chance to prevent the deal being put on back-burner by the United States.
The United States is pressuring India to agree to some of its conditions with a plea that it would help the Bush administration secure the approval of the US Congress.
Sources said Nicholas Burns, the US under secretary of state for political affairs, had assured Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran last month in London that the Bush administration was keen on finalising the civilian nuclear deal before the US Congress goes into recess in the first week of July and then goes into âelection modeâ.
Saran was also told that next weekâs talks in Delhi were crucial to enable the administration to put an end to the debate and ask the US Congress by the end of this month to vote for the nuclear deal by passing the needed legislation.
Sources said some of the new conditions slapped by the United States for implementation of the deal were âharshâ but India would have to accept them or the US Congress may otherwise not clear the deal.
The External Affairs Ministry is, however, keeping quiet on what transpired between Saran and Burns in London and has declined to comment on some of the new conditions the Americans are trying to push.