Shyam Saran: Uphill task

Washington, March 28: The 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, which controls global trade in nuclear technology and equipment, is unlikely to lift restrictions on New Delhi for not signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty until US Congress passes laws making an exception for India.

Nicholas Burns, the US under-secretary of state for political affairs, said here yesterday that while Britain, France, Russia and Australia were strongly supportive of the Indo-US nuclear deal at an NSG meeting in Vienna last week, most countries preferred to take a middle road.

This admission by Burns to the highly-respected Council on Foreign Relations came even as he began follow-up talks on the nuclear deal with India’s foreign secretary Shyam Saran, who arrived here today from Vienna.

Although this is not the sole purpose of Saran’s three-day visit, he has an uphill task of winning over those on Capitol Hill who are sceptical about the nuclear deal concluded between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W. Bush.

This became obvious when senator Richard Lugar, the Republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, politely turned down a request from the Indian embassy here to meet Saran although the senator is in town.

Indeed, tomorrow Lugar and members of his panel will hear a testimony by Burns on the deal at a closed-door hearing.

Lugar is the sponsor of a bill to amend America’s Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to take the deal with India forward, but he made it clear while introducing the legislation in the Senate that he was doing so “at the request of the (Bush) administration”.

By turning down a request to meet Saran, Lugar is making it clear that he wants to keep his options open and be an honest broker within his committee on a deal that is highly divisive on Capitol Hill.

The deal’s most active opponent in the Congress, representative Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, wrote in the Boston Globe yesterday: “Granting India a special exemption from the non-proliferation rules sets the table for a nuclear weapons banquet that could include a large group of unwanted guests.

“Russia may seek special exemptions from the nuclear rules to share nuclear materials with Iran. China will have a free pass to grant special exemptions for Pakistan or North Korea.”

Aware of the mood in the US Congress, Saran will use a lot of his energy here this week to add to New Delhi’s political capital in Washington.

He will discuss Iran, China, Myanmar, global democracy and Central Asia ? all crucial for the credibility of the Bush administration ? at a working lunch with Burns at the state department tomorrow.

A mere 45 minutes have been set apart for discussing the nuclear deal on the agenda for delegation-level talks afterwards, although the deal may figure prominently at a dinner Burns is hosting for Saran tonight.

What this means is that when the foreign secretary meets Congressmen such as Gary Ackerman and Tom Lantos he will be able to showcase Indian co-operation with the US on Iran and impress neo-conservatives with shared Indo-US views on Myanmar and global democracy.

Ackerman and Lantos belong the Jewish vote bank in the Congress, for whom regime change in Tehran is a sacred objective.

Saran will also go to the ultra-conservative think-tank, The Heritage Foundation, for a lecture on Thursday as part of this strategy of raising the stake of America’s rightist forces in the relationship with India.

Burns said yesterday that he expected a vote on the India bill in the Congress in May or June and hoped it would be a “yes” vote.

He said a Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting can be called any time even if the deal with India does not figure in the group’s May plenary meeting in Brazil.