India unhappy with the NSG draft prepared by US

India maintains that if any country has any non-proliferation concerns with regard to its case, these should not be reflected in the NSG waiver. The officials noted that several members of the NSG had no issues with India being given the exemption and if any country has some apprehensions, those could be addressed bilaterally with them instead of NSG being involved.

“Individual countries can raise their doubts when we go for bilateral agreements with them after getting the NSG waiver and we will discuss those with them,” the officials said.

The comments assume significance as India’s case is expected to be taken up by the NSG later this month, after the IAEA Board of Governors’ approves the India-specific Safeguards Agreement.

The NSG waiver by consensus is essential for India to have cooperation with the international community. “We want to sort out the issue (with the US) before the NSG takes up the matter,” an officials said. The officials conceded that not all members of the NSG were on board and said efforts are being made to bring them around. In this regard, some ministers and senior officials are travelling to various countries to convince them and allay their apprehensions, if any.

India is sure of support from many countries, particularly Russia, France and UK but some countries like Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands, have reservations with regard to India being granted the waiver to do nuclear commerce with the international community as it is not a signatory to the NPT.

Some countries have not yet spelt out their position with regard to the issue, making India keep its fingers crossed. The NSG works by consensus and even if one of the 45 countries voices reservation, India would not get the waiver.

New Delhi contends that the Safeguards Agreement reached with IAEA covers 90 per cent of non-proliferation issues that any country could be concerned at. Efforts are being made to allay apprehensions on account of the remaining 10 per cent, the official said.

“We are telling them that they need not worry on account of India as it is committed to universal non-proliferation,” the official said.

The stand that China would take at the NSG is being watched closely as it has not yet spelt out its position. The officials said China has not said it will support India’s case but Chinese President Hu Jintao has conveyed to Prime Minister Singh that it will not create problems.

The officials also made it clear that India will not approach the international community for civil nuclear commerce till the US Congress clears the 123 agreement.

“Technically, we can approach countries for cooperation in the civil nuclear field after NSG grants waiver, but we will wait till the US Congress votes on the 123 agreement as it was the US which triggered such an initiative,” they said.