Dear Friends,

As you may be aware a lot of heat has been generated yesterday by a letter leaked to the press in the US, which states the american intension of cutting off cooperation with India on this deal in the event of a test being conducted.

The BJP and the Left parties are predictably baying for the PMs blood again. It is a matter of common sence that any conduct of a nuclear test by any country is not taken lightly bythe international community these days. Even France was severely condemned for their such test. Further the PM had himself said that it is Indias sovereign right to conduct a test and it is USAs right to react to it. However nowhere in the 123 agreement have we commited to not conducting a test.

It may further be noted that in the future the need to conduct tests will also be reduced as simulated tests are fast replacing the conventional ones and all data and information is obtainable from such simulated tests.

Lastly it is not only the US that Inda can conduct buisness when the treaty becomes operational. We can do so with any of the 45 countries in this group, including our old ally Russia.

While I was mullingover these thots and reading the views of various experts in the matter i stumbled upon a article published in todays Tribune, a newspaper published from Chandigarh. I am reproducing here its contents verbatim for the perusal of all MS members:

News Analysis
By K. Subrahmanyam
India can meet all challenges of 123 pact

Congressman Howard Berman, a known opponent of Indo-US nuclear deal and Chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee has released the answers furnished by the State Department to his predecessor Tom Lantos on the questionnaire Lantos had sent to the State Department.

The reply was sent in January 2008. Though it was not a classified document, the recipient was asked to keep it confidential in view of the sensitive nature of the replies. Obviously, this was a reference to the debate in India on the Indo-US nuclear deal and the strong emotions it had generated.

Now Berman has deliberately released it in the hope it will complicate the issue at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) meeting in Vienna on September 4 and 5.

As expected by the opponents of the deal in the US, the release of the letter has generated the expected reactions in India from the BJP leadership and the Left. Demands have been made for a special session of Parliament and even for the resignation of the government on moral grounds.

The charge is that the government, particularly the Prime Minister, misled the House. But for an impartial and apolitical observer, such a charge appears totally untenable.

It is said that the State Department document makes it clear that in case of India conducting a test, the US will cease all nuclear cooperation and demand to take back its equipment and fuel. This is held as inhibiting India's right to test. No. It does not take away India's right to test which is inherent in India's sovereignty.

But there will be consequences if India conducts a test as there were in 1998. Any future Prime Minister who wants to test will take into account all possible consequences before ordering it.