A year after the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) exempted India for the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, the heads of an International panel on nuclear non-proliferation have said that the deal might have worked towards jeopardising the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans and former Japanese foreign minister Yoriko Kawaguchi aired their opinions after a three-day regional meeting of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND). Evans and Kawaguchi are co-chairs of the ICNND, which was formed in September last year and aims to have a report early 2010 ahead of the NPT review conference.

Brajesh Mishra — former National Security Advisor and the lone Indian representative at the international commission — told The Indian Express, “They didn’t express these opinions at the meeting, when the issue of NSG exemption to the Indo-US nuclear deal came up for discussion. I think these are their personal views and not the views of the Commission.” Mishra wasn’t present at the media briefing when Evans and Kawaguchi spoke, but he attended the three-day regional meeting.

At the briefing, when asked about their views on the NSG exemption to India, Kawaguchi said, “Cent per cent of the international community were not hailing the (Indo-US) deal—it might work to jeopardise the NPT.” “The problem is there wasn’t enough quid pro quo. In return for the NSG waiver, the NSG didn’t insist upon India signing the NPT. I don’t think the international community extracted commitments from India on signing into the global non-proliferation regime. As a precedent for other countries, like Pakistan, this wasn’t appropriate,” Evans said.