| India, US complete talks on nuke deal |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi July 27, 2007 |
| India and United States today officially announced that they had completed negotiations on the bilateral text on civil nuclear co-operation, but opposition parties said doubts remained on the extent to which Indian strategic autonomy had been curtailed. Doubts were raised specifically on movement of personnel from one nuclear facility to another, on the crucial issue of whether India was a Nuclear Weapons State (NWS) that would allow India additional leverage in negotiating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the issue of conflict of laws, that is, the implications of the Hyde Act on the 123 if India decided to conduct more nuclear tests. These doubts were raised during the meeting of the BJP with the Prime Minister on Thursday. At a press conference addressed by Foreign Secretary S S Menon, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and chief of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Anil Kakodkar today, India called for a new consensus on proliferation and emphasised that what had been negotiated with the US was an agreement for peaceful nuclear energy. Describing the text as |
