Amid the United Progressive Alliance-Left deadlock over the Indo-US nuclear deal, senior American Congressman Gary Ackerman will visit India next week and is expected to exchange views with the leadership in New Delhi on the landmark accord and other issues of mutual interest.
Ackerman, the New York Democrat who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Sub Committee on Middle East and South Asia, will be in New Delhi between July 2 and 4 even as sequencing of his overall five-nation trip that will also take him to Egypt, Israel, Pakistan and Afghanistan is still being worked out, sources told PTI. During his visit and in his meetings with senior Indian officials and leaders, Ackerman is expected to emphasise the potentials of the overall width and breadth of India-US ties.
Ahead of his departure, Ackerman, who has been a Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, has scheduled a hearing in his sub committee on "More Than Just the 123 Agreement: The Future of US-India Relations".
Ackerman has invited three scholars with a broad based perspective on bilateral relations to address the Committee -- Stephen Cohen of Brookings, Walter Andersen of Johns Hopkins and Teresita Schaffer of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
According to sources, Ackerman will be sharing with the Indian establishment his views and concerns about the ongoing situations in Pakistan and Afghanistan as also wanting to hear from New Delhi its perceptions of goings on in neighbourhood.
A friend of India, Ackerman has been a tough critic of the Bush administration's policies towards Pakistan not only pertaining to the war on terror and democracy issues but also of the unresolved issues relating to disgraced scientist A Q Khan's nuclear proliferation network.