123 Agreement & Fuel Supply

Letters to the Editor - The Hindu
September 15, 2008

The USA's volte-face regarding fuel supply assurances has clearly betrayed the fact that the Americans did not negotiate the 123 agreement with benevolent intentions towards India. Now that we have obtained a waiver from the NSG enabling us to do nuclear trade with France and Russia, the government must display the resolve to play hard-ball with the USA. The government must at once release a white paper detailing its interpretations of the provisions of the 123 text regarding fuel supply and re-processing rights. The USA must be asked to make its interpretations known. If the Bush administration decides not to honour its commitments by hiding behind the US Congress and the Hyde act, then we must convey to the Americans in clear and unambiguous terms that under the present conditions we cannot buy even a single reactor from them.
It is high time we refused to be led up the garden path by the Americans.