NSG waiver seems an uphill task for India

The countries, which include New Zealand, Austria, Ireland and Switzerland, are understood to have discussed the strategy to be adopted at the two-day NSG meeting called to consider whether India should be allowed to resume civil nuclear trade with the international community.

These countries continue to nurse apprehensions with regard to the waiver as they feel it will compromise the global non-proliferation system.

Compounding the problems for India was the disclosure of US State Department documents which make clear Washington’s emphasis on denying New Delhi the right to reprocess and snap nuclear cooperation if India conducts atomic tests.

This document could be used by the critical NSG countries to insist on incorporating such provisions in the waiver of the grouping.

The US has deputed Under Secretary of State William Burns to the NSG meeting to demonstrate its keenness to ensure that the exemption is granted to India.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, who is in the US, will come here directly. He will be joined by Prime Minister’s Special Envoy Shyam Saran, R B Grover, Director, Strategic Affairs in the Department of Atomic Energy and some other officials of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Though India is not a member of the NSG, the delegation led by Menon will be camping here to meet envoys of the NSG countries, if necessary, to make further efforts to persuade them.

The NSG will consider a draft which is being presented before the grouping after amendments following demands by at least 15 countries during the August 21-22 meeting.

The sceptic countries continued to have reservations even after amendments to the original draft as they feel that the changes were only cosmetic in nature and conditions are not attached.

China, too, appeared on Monday to be joining the countries having reservations when the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece ‘People’s Daily’ described the Indo-US nuclear deal as a “blow” to non-proliferation.

However, the Chinese Government yesterday sought to indicate that it will not block the initiative.

India, on the other hand, has maintained that if conditions are attached to the waiver, it could walk away.

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