http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indi ... 351382.cms
MUMBAI: Criticising the Indo-US nuke deal, former Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman P K Iyengar said that the President and the PM should not sign the deal because it contains too many details which they may not understand.
"Some PMs cannot even pronounce the word plutonium. The deal defines terms, some of which are wrong and incorrect. We are disappointed at the way the negotiations have progressed. How can the government say that they cannot change the agreement?" he asked.
According to Iyengar, part 2.1 of the 123 Agreement was highly objectionable.
It says: "The US should not seek to facilitate or encourage the continuation of nuclear exports to India by any other party if such exports are terminated under the US law." He said that if this clause was removed then the Hyde Act will not be applicable to the 123 Agreement.
Iyengar said that after 25 years India could have reprocessed the spent fuel from the first and second units of the 160 MW Tarapur atomic power station which were commissioned in October 1969. "But, the ministry of external affairs did not want this to happen because they did not want India to be on the wrong side of the US," he said.
He said that the
Hyde Act was even more severe than the NPT. "We should not be pariahs. The deal should be discussed in Parliament. In European nations, there would have been a referendum on such an important issue. For two years we have been negotiating the deal which has been a complete waste of time," he said.
Defence analyst Bharat Karnad, who played a key role in framing India’s n-doctrine after the 1998 Pokhran tests, said that the deal envisages providing India only with reactor technology, but there is no assurance on fuel supply.
"It will make India energy-dependent on the US. The US will have the powers to turn on and off the reactors. India will invest huge amount of money to set up the reactors which can be deactivated by the US any time if it finds that India is not conforming to the deal," he said.
Karnad said that if India implements its three-stage nuclear programme, we will gain energy independence since we have abundance of thorium in this country.
Regarding security, he said the
fulcrum of the Hyde Act was that India should not test. "Testing is very important. The Indian military cannot accept weapons which have been designed and tested on computers. They have to be physically tested," he said.
He said that during the May 1998 nuclear weapons tests at Pokhran, the thermo nuclear device otherwise known as the hydrogen bomb did not work properly.
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The fissile material cut-off treaty and the Hyde Act will cap our nuclear weaponisation programme and we will yield under pressure," he said.
"The US is attempting to contain us quality wise and limit us size wise. Chinese missiles which are aimed against India are tipped with an one megaton N-warhead. In contrast, the yield of the Indian n-warheads is a mere 20 kiloton," Karnad said.
In a Q&A session, he wondered why under these circumstances was India keen on proceeding with the deal. "This is a complete mystery to me despite all the negative aspects. What can I say except that an unelected PM will seriously jeopordise the security of the country," he said.
He regretted that 60 years after getting independence, India was still trying to please the big powers. "I think, there is no way the deal can be stopped unless the Left party brings down the government," he added.