'India must stop operationalising N-deal'

The CPI-M urges the Govt to suspend all further moves to make operational the India-US nuclear deal, saying information proves the deal compromised New Delhi's vital interests.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Wednesday urged the government to suspend all further moves to make operational the India-US nuclear deal, saying information now made public in the US proved the deal compromised New Delhi's vital interests.

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"The Manmohan Singh government stands thoroughly exposed before the country for compromising India's vital security interests," the party said in a statement in New Delhi.

"Proceeding with this deal will mortgage India's sovereignty and make India's civilian nuclear programme vulnerable to US blackmail for the next forty years."

The CPI-M demanded that the Congress-led government "suspend all further moves to operationalise the anti-national nuclear deal".

Quoting the now revealed correspondence between the US State Department and members of the US Congress on the nuclear agreement, the party said this had been kept a secret until now "because it would have completely exposed the false claims being made by the Manmohan Singh government before the Indian public regarding the terms of the nuclear deal".

Howard L. Berman, chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, has made public the correspondence. It followed 45 questions US Congressmen asked to the Bush Administration seeking clarifications on various aspects of the agreement.

According to CPI-M, the US had given no binding fuel-supply assurance to India; there is no US consent to India's stockpiling of lifetime fuel reserves for safeguarded power reactors; and civil nuclear cooperation is explicitly conditioned to India not testing ever again.

The US has also retained the right to suspend or terminate supplies at its own discretion.

The letter makes clear that the 123 agreement has granted India no right to take corrective measures in case of any fuel-supply disruption.

The Bush administration's letter states that the 123 agreement fully conforms to the Hyde Act provisions, the CPI-M said.

"The letter assures Congress that the US government will not assist India in the design, construction or operation of sensitive nuclear technologies, including enrichment and reprocessing.

"The Left parties had warned the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government about these provisions in the notes submitted to the UPA-Left coordination committee, which have now been vindicated by this disclosure. Each of the commitments made by Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) in parliament have been violated."