Left parties to protest Bush's India visit

    Kolkata: Left parties said on Friday that they would hold protests across the country over a landmark deal on nuclear technology during US President George Bush's visit to India next month. Prakash Karat, General Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist), while addressing a news conference at the conclusion of two-day long politburo meeting in here today, said that other parties would join them in the protests. "All over the country on March 2 we will have protests, demonstrations and rallies. Not only the Left parties but many other parties and organisations are going to jointly do this. We have instructed all our party units to make sure that this protest during Bush visit is made a great success," said Karat.

    Last month India U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said New Delhi has "difficult choices" to make on a controversial civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States before the deal can be completed. The landmark accord agreed in principle in July but still to be negotiated in detail, would grant New Delhi access to civil nuclear technology it has been denied for three decades, provided it puts its civilian facilities under international inspections Earlier, the Left parties had urged the government not to vote against Iran in the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog meet, but analysts say India voted under pressure for the deal. The deal although announced with great fanfare has run into criticism from nuclear experts and some members of the U.S. Congress who say it undermines global non-proliferation goals. Left parties are strongly opposed to New Delhi supporting the West, as it did last September when the IAEA declared Iran had failed to comply with its international obligations. Karat, agitated over the US attitude on deal, said they would take up the issue in the forthcoming session of Parliament and urge New Delhi not to vote against Iran in next month's IAEA meeting. "Before the March 6 vote on Iran in the International Atomic Energy Agency Board we would like to have a discussion in the Parliament what the Government of India would do? We are confident that the majority of parties represented in the parliament will say don't vote with the United Stated of America ... on Iran," said Karat. Washington and major European powers say Iran is developing a nuclear bomb and wants the case referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. Tehran denies the charge and is fighting referral. The U.S. ambassador to India had also said if India did not back the U.S. position, the nuclear agreement could be in trouble. The United States and India are trying to resolve differences before President George W. Bush visits New Delhi in March.

Former AEC chief says US nuke deal favours India

    Mumbai / New Delhi: Former Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman P.K. Iyengar today defended the civil nuclear deal with the United States even as it has ran into serious trouble, with Washington playing hard ball and India's atomic energy establishment raising objections to the terms of the deal. P.K. Iyengar said in an interview that India could produce more nuclear power in the near future for commercial purposes if the deal removes certain restrictions. "We are seeking nuclear cooperation in the field of nuclear power, in terms of fuel for Tarapur, maybe some commercial trade between items which goes into building a nuclear power station and maybe even a turnkey approach to some light meter reactors. All this is feasible. It is purely a commercial proposition with the blessings of the US government because so far due to restrictions they have place both the nuclear suppliers group and the US government do not entertain any request from India for equipment, technology or for outright sale of material that go in the nuclear power station. If the cooperation will free us from these restrictions, we will be able to produce more nuclear power in the near future," Iyengar said in Mumbai. He also said it was not a lop-sided deal as made out by some detractors.

    "So far there is no indication that it is a lopsided one if we go by the letter and spirit of the exchange of letters that happened during July 18. What India has promised is to slowly introduce this civilian and commercial civil programme that IAEA safeguards. So that there is no clandestine transfer of technology to any other nations," said Iyengar. The deal, agreed in principle when Singh visited Washington last July, would offer India access to nuclear technology and reactors -- at a stroke removing much of the stigma India attracted when it conducted nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998. In return, New Delhi offered to separate its civilian and military nuclear programs -- and place the civilian part under international supervision. But that is where the deal could come unstuck. At the heart of the debate is a prototype Fast Breeder program, which would process plutonium from spent fuel from India's existing Heavy Water reactors.

   The chief of Department of Atomic Energy Anil Kakodkar went public with his objections in a newspaper interview published in full this week. Placing the Fast Breeder under international supervision would "shackle" his scientists and leave the country dependent on imported uranium, he has said. Singh, already under fire from his Communist allies over the deal, has promised to address parliament later this month about the deal. Promising to defend India's national interest, he vowed there was "no question of bending" to American demands. While the Left parties communists have said they would dock the government if it votes against Iran in the forthcoming meet in March, analysts say India did not buckle under US pressure but the picture was misleading. "There are number of countries that voted against Iran in February which cannot be considered as lackeys for United States, China for instance. So therefore you simply cannot take the entire decision within the American parameters. But in the Indian context, the manner in which we did it, gave it a very misleading picture that it was done at the behest of the United States. That could have been avoided," said Professor Kumar Swami, an analyst, in an interview in New Delhi. U.S. officials are hoping to reach a deal before Bush's visit. But in a January 26 interview with Reuters, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said India had to make some "difficult choices." In New Delhi, the Foreign Ministry is keen to push the deal through, but says Washington is a playing tough. India's civilian and military nuclear programs are completely entwined. New Delhi had proposed a phased separation, Washington wants it done in one go, he said. The deal has to be accepted by the 44-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group and the US Congress.

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