Having stepped up pressure on the US over qualifying fuel supply assurances as a political and not a legal commitment, India will be watching closely for corrective action when Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns delivers his testimony before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.

Interestingly, a State Department fact sheet on the Indo-US nuclear initiative, dated September 12, two days after the agreement was submitted to the Congress along with the presidential determinations, described the 123 Agreement as providing a “legal framework” for civil nuclear cooperation with the US. The same day, few hours earlier, India had issued a statement that it would consider the agreement to be a “legal document” once it enters into force. New Delhi has since maintained that there cannot be selective interpretation to certain portions of an agreement.

“On September 10, 2008, the President submitted the 123 Agreement to the Congress for its review and approval. This agreement would provide the legal framework for the US to engage in civil nuclear cooperation with this key strategic partner. President Bush has made the requisite determinations on India’s progress on a number of commitments it made in the 2005 Joint Statement, as provided for under the Hyde Act and the Atomic Energy Act. We believe the 123 Agreement package is consistent with the requirements Congress set out with strong bipartisan support in its passage of the Hyde Act in 2006, and we look forward to continue our work with the Congress to bring the agreement into force,” said the State Department in the fact sheet prepared by its Bureau of South and Central Asian affairs.

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