India sounds out NSG on China, Pak N-deal

Concerned about the Chinese decision to sell two nuclear reactors to Pakistan, India has sounded out some member nations in the Nuclear Suppliers Group with its apprehension that the move violates “international safeguards” and may lead to proliferation.

Concerned about the Chinese decision to sell two nuclear reactors to Pakistan, India has sounded out some member nations in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) with its apprehension that the move violates “international safeguards” and may lead to proliferation.

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The NSG meet, slated to begin on June 24 in New Zealand — the day the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet in Islamabad — is expected to take up the issue. The US has already raised its objection to the Chinese plan to sell reactors to Pakistan.

India did not make many statements against the US-Pakistan nuclear cooperation plans. While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refused to comment on that deal early this year, then Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in 2008 that India “will like to encourage civil nuclear cooperation for peaceful use of nuclear energy” in the context of Islamabad seeking nuclear cooperation on the same lines as the India-US nuclear deal.

This time, however, India has been airing its concerns about the Sino-Pak deal with the 46-member NSG countries, particularly the US and Russia, government sources indicated.

“We are for the peaceful use of nuclear energy. But our civil nuclear cooperation with the US is guided by India-specific guidelines at the International Atomic Energy Agency and exception given to the NSG guidelines. The NSG will be taking note that the proposed Chinese sale of nuclear reactors need to follow international safeguards as well as the genuine proliferation concerns,” a senior government official said.

Sources said that unlike India, Pakistan had a “track record of proliferation”. The A.Q. Khan network ran a supermarket of nuclear technology.