Nuclear responsible India not worried about US honouring nuke deal: PM
New Delhi:Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that India is a responsible nuclear state and it holds an impeccable record. “We are a nuclear weapon state. But we are responsible nuclear state. We have impeccable
record. We have not ..(added).. to nuclear proliferation, ” said Dr. Manmohan
Singh in an interview given to the Editor of Newsweek International, Fareed Zakaria,
in CNN’s Global Public Square (GPS) program here ahead of his four-day trip to
Washington as the Obama Presidency’s first official state visit (officially beginning
on Monday), Earlier, in another interview to Newsweek, ahead of his trip to Washington,
Dr. Singh stated that India was not worried about US honouring nuke deal. Though
India would like to get a "positive reaffirmation" of the present administration
to carry forward the process, India has no worries about US honouring the Indo-US
nuclear deal, said Prime Minister Dr. Singh ahead of his meeting on Tuesday with
President Barack Obama in the White House. Dr. Singh, being on his way to Washington
from Geneva, said India would like to operationalise the "watershed" agreement
and ensure that the objectives for the nuclear deal were realised in full merit.
"We have no worries, but we would like a positive reaffirmation of this administration
to carry forward the process," Singh was quoted as saying by the Newsweek in reply
to a question asking whether he was concerned about the US honouring the consent
agreement. Dr. Singh said the partnership with US was for sustained and sustainable
development of India and the new global world order, which is in search of a new
equilibrium. "India and the United States could be partners in refocusing our
attention on an equitable, balanced, global order." Speaking about India’s worry
about the Test Ban Treaty which President Obama seems intent on pushing through
the Senate, Dr. Singh said: "Why should we be worried?. We are not worried at
all." India has a unilateral moratorium on testing, imposed voluntarily and that
it stands by that, said Dr. Singh while adding: “We would like to work with President
Obama to promote the cause of global nuclear disarmament, a world free of nuclear
weapons." "I think that is a world which has been the dream of our leaders from
Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi. We would like to work with all like-minded countries
to achieve that goal," said the Indian Prime Minister. However, Singh expressed
hope that the US would be "more liberal" in transferring technologies to India
and clear the way for implementing the landmark agreement on nuclear cooperation.
"We had a watershed and a landmark agreement with the US on nuclear cooperation.
We would like to operationalise it and ensure that the objectives for the nuclear
deal are realised in full merit," said Dr. Singh. Singh said in the interview
that the restrictions on technology transfers to India "make no sense" since the
country has an impeccable record of non-proliferation.
