The Hindu Business Line : New York Times criticises Indo-US nuclear pact as 'misbegotten'

WASHINGTON: Days ahead of President, Mr George Bush's, visit to India in early March, the influential New York Times (NYT) has described the Indo-US deal on civil nuclear energy cooperation as 'misbegotten' and sharply criticized Washington's policy towa rds New Delhi in this regard.

"When President Mr Bush makes his long-planned trip to India next month, he will be visiting a country that, like China, has begun to gear its international strategy to its energy needs. That is one of the biggest diplomatic challenges facing the United States, and right now the American strategy is askew," the newspaper said in an editorial published on Sunday.

"India desperately wants Mr Bush to wring approval from the Congress for a misbegotten pact in which America would help meet India's energy requirements through civilian nuclear cooperation. With its eye on the nuclear deal, India recently bowed to Ameri can pressure and cast its vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Iran's suspected nuclear programme to the United Nations Security Council," it said.

According to the newspaper, that was a victory for Mr Bush, and India did the right thing in helping to hold Iran accountable. But it said the deal it wanted to make with the US was a 'bad one.'

"It would allow India to make an end run around the nuclear non-proliferation treaty's basic bargain, which rewards countries willing to renounce nuclear weapons with the opportunity to import sensitive nuclear technology to help meet their energy needs. "

"America has imposed nuclear export restrictions on India because India refuses to sign the non-proliferation treaty and it has tested a nuclear device that uses materials and technology diverted from its civilian nuclear programme," the editorial said.

The newspaper said that, in trying to give India a special exemption, the US President was threatening the NPT's carrot-and-stick approach, "which for more than 35 years has dissuaded countries that are capable of building or buying nuclear arms from doi ng so, from South Korea to Turkey to Saudi Arabia."

"And if his hope is that the promise of nuclear technology from America will be enough to prod India to turn its back on Iran, that's a bad bet," the editorial warned.

It noted that even as India was casting its vote on Iran's nuclear programme, the country's Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora, said that his Government would continue to pursue the proposed multibillion-dollar Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline deal with Tehran.

"There is no diplomatic quick fix in this energy-hungry world. Even if India shunned Iran, it would still have to turn to other petroleum suppliers that Washington wants to isolate, including Sudan and Venezuela. And the Iranian supplies would wind up go ing to other energy-hungry nations, tying them more closely to Tehran," it said. - UNI

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