The Hindu Business Line : ‘India not bound by provisions of Hyde Act’

New Delhi, Aug. 16 In a bid to allay concerns raised by its Left allies on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, the Government on Thursday reiterated India’s “sovereign right” to carry out future nuclear tests and clarified that the country was not bound by the provisions of the Hyde Act.

In a statement in Parliament, the External Affairs Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said the Left would be meeting the Government after the CPI (M)’s two-day Polit Bureau beginning Friday.

“Whatever is stated in Hyde Act is not binding on us. How they (US) deal with it is their problem,” Mr Mukherjee told reporters in Parliament, just after he made the statement in the Lower House. India has the sovereign right to test and would do so if it is necessary in the national interest, he said in the statement.

Replying to a query, he said there are many “extraneous and prescriptive” provisions in Hyde Act which are “not acceptable” to India.

Mr Mukherjee said that the Hyde Act was between the US Congress and the US Administration and not between the Parliaments of the two countries. “What is stated in the Hyde Act is not going to be our concern,” he said.

He said that the four major concerns raised about the deal have been met satisfactorily. “We are assured that it (the deal) is not going to touch the strategic programme, not going to affect the three-stage indigenous research and development of peaceful nuclear energy programme and uninterrupted supply of fuel.”

“We will not have to face a situation like in Tarapore and reprocessing will take place in a dedicated arrangement that will be set up,” he added.

In his statement, Mr Mukherjee said: “Nowhere in the bilateral agreement on cooperation for peaceful uses of nuclear energy with the US is testing mentioned. The bilateral cooperation agreement contains elaborate provisions in Articles 5 and 14 to ensure the continuous operation of India’s reactors. These include fuel supply assurances, the right to take corrective measures, and a strategic fuel reserve for the lifetime of India’s reactors in case of cessation of cooperation.”

In response to the assurances given by Mr Mukherjee, the BJP said it would settle for nothing less than a full-fledged discussion and voting in Parliament on the Indo-US nuke deal.

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