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Indian statement on capping N-programme encouraging, says US

Desikan Thirunarayanapuram in Washington

Even though Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ruled out capping India's nuclear weapon programme as demanded by the United States, Washington noted his statement to Parliament on Tuesday as "encouraging".

The speech was Vajpayee's "effort to build a base of public support for the actions they will take, which is clearly necessary in a democracy," US Assistant Secretary of State Karl F Inderfurth told The Washington Post. "All that we consider very encouraging."

In effect, Vajpayee rejected three of the five major demands of the United States but conceded the other two. Hence the tone of satisfaction.

Vajpayee had declared that India would maintain deployment of nuclear weapons, continue development of ballistic missiles, and reserve the right to produce more bomb-grade material. This statement "marked his first public statement that India already has deployed nuclear materials," the Post noted.

The prime minister also repeated his promise made before the United Nations three months ago that India would sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty before next September. US officials also have expressed satisfaction over Indian steps to guard against leak or export of nuclear weapons technology to third countries.

"It is also clear that Prime Minister Vajpayee is trying to build a national consensus for no more nuclear testing and signing of the test ban treaty," a US official told The New York Times.

Unidentified US administration officials quoted in The Washington Post and The New York Times agreed that Vajpayee's statement to Parliament was consistent with what Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh has told US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott in the seven meetings they have had since India's nuclear tests in May. They are scheduled to meet again in New Delhi next month.

Speaking at the Brookings Institution last month, Talbott had urged India and Pakistan to refrain from producing fissile material for nuclear weapons, pending a treaty. But on Tuesday Vajpayee bluntly rejected this plea.

State department spokesperson James P Rubin said on Wednesday that the US welcomed Vajpayee's pledge to join the test ban treaty, but he admitted "there are significant differences" between India and the United States.

Former state department analyst Stephen P Cohen, currently at the Brookings Institution, said the tone of Vajpayee's remarks was "moderate and reasonable".

The ongoing talks might have prevented India from going nuclear if they had been started earlier, Cohen told The Washington Times.

"We paid no attention to them" except to insist they join non-proliferation treaties, ignoring their concerns about Pakistani and Chinese nuclear threats, he said.

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