India got its wish

[Guest guest]

India got its wish

 

Pramit Pal Chaudhuri

"The US has delivered far more than India has in what the joint

statement called the new "global partnership." Pakistan's terrorism

card is diluted. India has been offered military knowhow of the sort

it has never seen before. And, though it doesn't like to admit it,

New Delhi's global status has been greatly enhanced by the

endorsement of the sole superpower."

 

 

New Delhi, July 19, 2005

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W. Bush on Tuesday

jointly declared an end to an atomic apartheid whose only victim was

India. It will take many months to accomplish. But as the Financial

Times noted what Bush has done is to officially welcome "India into

the club of international nuclear powers".

 

The Indo-US Joint Statement goes well beyond anything even the most

optimistic had expected from the summit. Even days before Singh's

arrival in Washington, Indian officials had been sought to lower

expectations on the nuclear front. They wasted their breath.

 

The end of India's nuclear second-class citizenship begins with the

joint statement's description of India as "a responsible state with

advanced nuclear technology". This falls just short of formal nuclear

weapons state status but then this would have run afoul of the

Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

 

But the label is less important than the promise of granting

the "benefits and advantages" of nuclear weapons states. This

includes granting India access to full nuclear energy technology

which its ailing reactors desperately need.

 

Probably the most important part of the joint statement was the White

House's promise to throw its diplomatic weight behind "adjusting"

international treaties and changing US laws on which atomic apartheid

was based.

 

It's not as if this is a one-way street. In return, India has agreed

to place its nuclear reactors under IAEA safeguards, including

allowing on-site inspection, and promising never to test nukes again.

This is an acceptable quid pro quo. New Delhi has spent decades

saying it has the right credentials to be part of the nuclear club.

Now that it has been given an application form, it must take on the

responsibilities that the other members do.

 

Few things cause the scientific and bureaucratic establishment of

India more heartburn than the India's 30 year exile to the nuclear

fringe.. While surveys show the Indian public is experiencing a wave

of pro-American sentiment, the establishment has insisted the nuclear

issue is the true test of the genuineness of the US's desire to help

India's global rise.

 

Washington, in particular George W. Bush, has cleared the test. New

Delhi needs to ask Indian-Americans and its corporate friends to

lobby in favour of the legislation Bush will have to push through -

expect strong Democratic opposition to any nuclear favour for India.

It will need to mobilize its diplomats to assuage the anger of

supposed third world friends like South Africa and Brazil at the idea

of weakening the Nuclear Suppliers Group for India. The US cannot do

the heavy lifting alone. And remember that Bush has effectively only

two more years left as president.

 

The US has delivered far more than India has in what the joint

statement called the new "global partnership." Pakistan's terrorism

card is diluted. India has been offered military knowhow of the sort

it has never seen before. And, though it doesn't like to admit it,

New Delhi's global status has been greatly enhanced by the

endorsement of the sole superpower.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1436028,001301790000.htm?

headline=India~got~its~wish