Ties do not hinge on nuclear deal: Clinton

Former US President calls on Prime Minister, Congress chief

Ahead of US President George W Bush's India visit, starting on March 1, his predecessor Bill Clinton today played down doubts on the Indo-US nuclear deal, saying it should not be treated as the "lynchpin" of bilateral ties. "It should not be the linchpin of this relationship. It is too big, too important for the world. So, you know, if it (the deal) gets worked out fine before the President's visit, if it does not, it will work out sooner or later," he said.

The President's visit was important and should be seen "as a very positive thing" that would broaden the Indo-US friendship, Clinton, who is here on a private visit, said.

With uncertainty clouding over the July 18 deal, President Bush had yesterday defended it and said he would talk about the "development" of a civilian nuclear power industry during his visit to India.

The former US President had a meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Clinton drove down to 10 Janpath for the meeting with Gandhi, party sources said. Clinton also had a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who hosted a lunch in his honour.

Later in Panaji, Clinton said the US was not interested in dominating Iraq and instead would like to see a representative government ruling the country. "Saddam was a bad man. He is gone. Now we want that the people of Iraq should have a decent future," Clinton said. He said the process of getting normalcy in Iraq got on, "the US will draw down its forces".

"Ever since 2003 the position of the United Nations was to have a representative government in Iraq. And with the elections we hope that the new government stood up in Iraq," he said.

Pointing out to the terrorist attack in Jordan, he said these attacks were largely from Iraq. "If you would have seen the condition of victims in that attack, you would have realised its intensity," Clinton said.

He said the US was not interested in dominating Iraq and instead wanted normalcy to prevail in the country. "We can't dictate Iraq's future and hence there are elections there in which people will decide who will rule their country. This is most important to hold Iraq together," he said.

Clinton appreciated the government's "aggressive" approach to counter HIV/AIDS but said there was still stigma attached with those infected with the virus, which prevented people from coming forward for testing.

Announcing an initiative by the Clinton Foundation in partnership with the National AIDS Control Organisation to train nurses in HIV/AIDS care and treatment, Clinton said India had followed an "aggressive approach" to counter HIV/AIDS with top leaders including the prime minister being involved in the fight against the disease.

"In September 2004, when we had signed an agreement with the Indian government, a lot has been done. In May last year only 7,000 people were getting free treatment at government centres, which has now gone up to 26,000," he said.

"But we still have a lot to do here. There is still some stigma against positive people in india. We have to work to get rid of the stigma," he said adding it was so much so that some hiv positive people were hesitant in getting photographed with him at today's function as it would make their hiv status public.

Making a "public appeal" to the people, he said "nobody should suffer from stigma so that people come forward and are tested. There is nothing to be ashamed of being hiv positive and over 40 million people in the world are living with the virus."

Under the new initiative between Clinton foundation and government, nurses in the government aids centres and the faculty of nurse institutions would be trained on HIV/AIDS care and treatment.