The growing chorus of criticism of Left Front’s stand on the nuclear deal is a classic example of growing intolerance in the country. Left has been presented as traitors and pimp working at China's behest. But nobody is ready for dissection to find out its merits and demerits. Even the ardent champions of this deal are not ready to discuss the same in public. Unfortunately, all the discussions (whatever little discussions we have till now) centered around Left and not around the nuclear deal. We have forgotten that this deal is not about Left or Right; this deal is about the sovereignty of the country.
Nuclear deal will off course provide India an opportunity to become a close ally of US. But this will come at dearly cost of losing sovereignty in terms of foreign policies and defense strategies. Even after ceding our sovereignty ,this deal is not going to guarantee continuous supply of nuclear fuel, alternate supply arrangements, spent-fuel reprocessing techniques, and Uranium enrichment for full cycle.
To understand the deal ,it’s important to understand the gimmicks that US always try to play. US always want to have a polar world and therefore ,never wish any country to have independent foreign, defense and other strategic policies. To achieve this goal, US created NPT which prevented the countries from developing their own nuclear program.
But US cannot have such an agreement with India, Pakistan, and Israel. To prevent these countries from developing their own nuclear program US had taken lots of decisive measures to dissuade, isolate, and sanctions (remember sanctions imposed by US after nuclear test). But when US couldn't persuade India to sign the treaty and relinquish its foreign and defense strategies, US used nuclear energy as bait to lure India to have an agreement with US and enter NPT and CTBT through backdoor.
US passed “Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006’’ in 2006 to enable US to sign an agreement with India. The core essence of this act is same as that of NPT and CTBT.
Hyde Act clearly states. “It is the sense of Congress that it is in the interest of the United States to the fullest extent possible to ensure that those countries that are not States Party to the NPT are responsible in the disposition of any nuclear technology they develop”.
Here, act doesn't distinguish between nuclear technologies developed for nuclear arms and that is developed for civil uses. This will force India to dispose all the nuclear technologies even if it’s meant for civil purposes; this will not only mean to halt all the research and development in the nuclear field but also in the fields such as software development , material technologies and other related technologies which will be decided by NSG.
Hyde Act also states that it is in the interest of US to enter into an agreement for nuclear corporation with a country if the country has “a foreign policy that is congruent to that of the United States, and is working with the United States on key foreign policy initiatives related to nonproliferation”. There is no need to mention that after agreement India will be forced to adopt the foreign policies prepared by US.
This act goes one step further to state: “such cooperation will induce the country to give
greater political and material support to the achievement of United States global and regional nonproliferation objectives, especially with respect to dissuading, isolating, and, if necessary, sanctioning and containing states that sponsor terrorism and terrorist groups that are seeking to acquire a nuclear weapons capability or other weapons of mass destruction capability and the means to deliver such weapons”.
Act also forces India to join US in any future war against Iran. It demands “India’s full and active participation in United States efforts to dissuade, isolate, and, if necessary, sanction and contain Iran for its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including a nuclear weapons capability and the capability to enrich uranium or reprocess nuclear fuel, and the means to deliver weapons of mass destruction”. This policy will not only increase enmity between India and Iran but also cloud the relationship with other Iran supporter countries, including major oil producing countries, which will jeopardize any plans of having an agreement for Oil and will put the energy security plans off the track.
Moreover, Hyde Act doesn’t guarantee continuous fuel supply, alternative source of fuel, and spent-fuel enrichment technologies. A panel of eminent nuclear scientists, including four former directors of Atomic Energy Commission, former director of BARC, former MD and chairman of Nuclear Power Corporation of India, and former director Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, had prepared a note on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal and made certain recommendations to address their concerns. Thy mentioned that full co-operation in civilian nuclear energy has been denied to India. They had certain reservations about the act:
a) U.S. unwillingness to co-operate in the areas of spent-fuel reprocessing and uranium enrichment related to the full nuclear fuel cycle.
b) Denial of the nuclear fuel supply assurances and alternate supply arrangements mutually agreed upon earlier.
c) Limits co-operation in the GNEP programme. India will not be permitted to join as a technology developer but as a recipient state.
In nutshell, this act contains many objectionable clauses which will force India to relinquish its sovereignty. Once this Act is signed into law, all further bilateral agreements with the U.S. will be required to be consistent with this law.
These clauses will not only benefit US but also China. Brahma Chellaney, a prominent independent strategy thinker, mentions in an article, published in The Hindu on June 29, 2008:
“The political passions the deal is generating make it all the more important that spin should not be allowed to obfuscate facts. Both America and China stand to gain from the qualitative and quantitative fetters the deal imposes on India’s deterrent, including the test prohibition and the forced shutdown of Cirus — one of the two research reactors producing weapons-grade plutonium. Yet vicious attacks have been orchestrated on the Left for allegedly acting at China’s behest. Disinformation has been planted to sow confusion in the BJP ranks and break the party’s steadfast opposition to the deal. Can slogans and taunts serve as a substitute to an informed debate on an increasingly complex and technical deal?”
He also says, "Fundamentally, the US aim is to deter the rise of a nuclear India that can threaten US global or regional interests. By playing to India's ego and desire for status, the nuclear deal offers an attractive avenue to the US to get a handle on the Indian nuclear program and influence Indian foreign policy".
The time has come that we go for an informed debate leaving behind rancorous prejudices.
References :
Hyde Act of 2006
Note Prepared by eminent nuclear scientists
Brahma Chellaney's view
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment