by CKR
It appears that I may have been a bit too pessimistic in my estimate of what the House of Representatives passed the other day on the nuclear deal with India.
According to an op-ed by A. Gopalakrishnan, a former head of the Indian Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, in today's Asian Age (sorry, no link), the amendments that were affixed in committee remain in the approved bill. What were not added were amendments offered from the floor.
Gopalakrishnan offers a concern that India's parliament will be too pleased with the misleading news that these amendments were defeated.
This spreads the false and comfortable feeling that the legislation as it stands today is benign to India, and all the negative clauses which the Indian critics of the deal have worried about have been eliminated. The truth is far from it! It is only few of the additional amendments brought forth in the last few days , to further tighten the noose around India’s neck, which have been defeated --- ALL the original restrictions and demands placed on India through HR 5682, as submitted to the House, stay intact . Thus, the linkage to Iran in defining Indian good behaviour, the denial of the multi-path nuclear fuel supply guarantee which the PM had promised to Parliament , the total disregard for reciprocity of actions , the mandatory need for India to co-operate and collaborate with the US on the FMCT, fully participating in the Proliferation Security Initiative, the Australia Group, and the Wassennaar Arrangement, etc. are still very much a part of the passed legislation.He argues that the Indian Parliament must make clear to the United States that anything beyond the 2005 agreement is unacceptable, but he stops short of advocating that it be rejected when it comes time for Parliament to vote.
There is no wisdom in waiting for the US "to complete their legislative process", because it is high time that the US administration is openly warned that the Parliament & the people of India strongly oppose the specific inserts in these bills which go beyond the July 18, 2005 agreement between the two governments.I should have been going back to the original documents, too, but I just haven't had time.