It’s learnt that the US has, in the past two days, sent a “strong political message” to the six countries, asking them to consider that burdening the draft with any condition unacceptable to India will only make New Delhi walk away from the initiative which would be a “net loss” for non-proliferation.

One of the proposals made at the meeting today was that India give a public statement reaffirming its commitments made in the July 18, 2005 joint statement as a reassurance.

For the Manmohan Singh government, a consensus at the NSG could help respond to the political criticism in New Delhi over the State Department letter to the US Congress made public by chairperson of the House International Relations Committee Howard Berman. It would allow the government to argue that the nuclear deal was no longer a Indo-US affair and that other partners like Russia and France would, perhaps, matter more in the implementation of the nuclear deal.The Night Before

• Only Ireland, Austria, New Zealand and Switzerland holdout countries, getting cover fire from China

• US tells them: Any more changes, India walks away

• PM, Pranab work the phones

• One proposal: India issue a statement reiterating July 2005 agreement

• US fixes meeting with IAEA for Friday afternoon

• Revised draft says if a member complains of violation — for example, a test — NSG will call a meeting and members can put transfers on hold until decision