Posted on 11/03/2005 7:08:10 AM PST by CarrotAndStick
Washington, Nov 3.(PTI): The Bush administration has made it clear that it would not ask the US Congress to take legislative action that would end India's nuclear isolation unless New Delhi acted to fulfill its commitments, particularly "the most important" one on separating its civilian and military facilities.
"Our judgment is that it would not be wise or fair to ask the Congress to make such a consequential decision without evidence that the Indian government was acting on what is arguably the most important of its commitments -- the separation of its civilian and military facilities," Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicolas Burns told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.
The Administration believed that it was better to "wait" before it asked Congress to consider any required legislative action "until India is further along in taking the necessary steps to fulfill our agreement," he said.
Under the Agreement, reached between President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 18, the US would lift restrictions on the supply of reactors and fuel for India's civilian nuclear programme provided New Delhi fulfilled a series of obligations.
Burns said that he had "told the Indian leadership two weeks ago that it must craft a credible and transparent plan" and begin to implement it before the US government would seek Congressional approval.
India may not be ready to begin compliance until April next year, he said adding that Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran had assured him that New Delhi "will produce such a plan."
India's stand on terror finds sympathy
[ Wednesday, November 02, 2005 05:04:01 pmIANS ] NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's stern reminder to Pakistan to end cross-border terror in the aftermath of the bomb attacks here has found sympathy in the US and Russia.
The state-run Voice of Russia radio, widely considered a mouthpiece of the Kremlin, said in commentary broadcast on Wednesday that the normalisation of India-Pakistan relations "could hardly be expected until terrorism directed against India from the territory of Pakistan is stopped".
The US, one of the first countries to condemn the three blasts in New Delhi that killed 59 and injured over 200, also acknowledged that a crackdown on terrorism held the key to the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan.
Referring to efforts by the US to encourage dialogue between India and Pakistan, White House Spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters in Washington on Tuesday: "There is certainly a lot to be addressed, and everybody has a responsibility to do their part to crack down on terrorism.
"And we can all do more in that regard," McClellan said when asked about the blasts in New Delhi and its impact on India-Pakistan relations.
The support from Russia and the US will boost India's campaign to spotlight the issue of cross-border terrorism that continues to dog its ties with Pakistan.
The Voice of Russia also pointed to Manmohan Singh's statement about "external linkages" of the terror groups responsible for the Oct 29 attacks.
When Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf called the Indian prime minister on Monday to offer condolences for the deaths in the serial bombings, Manmohan Singh drew Musharraf's attention to Pakistan's "commitment to ending cross-border terrorism" and said "India continued to be disturbed and dismayed at indications of the external linkages of terrorist groups with the Oct 29 bombing".
"India expects Pakistan to act against terrorism directed at India," Manmohan Singh told Musharraf amid strong indications that the Pakistan-backed terror group Lashker-e-Taiba was behind the blasts.
Voice of Russia said in its commentary: "It would be wrong to say that Pakistan is doing nothing for combating international terrorism and terrorist outfits, but it is evident that not everything is being done to eliminate terror directed against India.
Islamabad should closely interact with New Delhi in this."
Alluding to the move by India and Pakistan to open five points along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir to help victims of the Oct 8 quake, it warned New Delhi not to allow these points to be used by terrorists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin too stressed on the new urgency in tackling global terrorism during an interview with a Dutch TV channel on Tuesday.
"Any attention to terrorists on the part of the media, any double standard interpretation of their motives and results of their activity means nothing but political and administrative support to terrorist actions," Putin said.
UN by-laws say that only the five permanent members of the Security Council are allowed to have nuclear weapons - now the US is cooperating with a nuclear armed non-Security Council Nation. TAKE THAT, UN!
Something has to change - India has to be given Permanent Security Council status, or we just need to leave the UN. The former would be good, the latter would be better.
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