Rigid stance of US puts N-deal at risk (India)

[OhioChick]

Source: Times of India

<23 Apr, 2007 l 0030 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK>

NEW DELHI: The odds are lengthening against the India-US nuclear deal, and under the existing circumstances its prospects appear bleak. As the two countries battle a stalemate in the negotiations on the ''123'' agreement, it has become clear that the US cannot extend nuclear cooperation to India the way it was promised in the July 18 and March 2 joint statements, and India cannot accept anything less.

A high-level source in the Indian government told TOI, "We cannot accept the deal under these conditions." As foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon embarks on a last-ditch bid to salvage the deal in a week's time, it is being recognised that the US is in no mood to concede India's stance on the three critical issues of reprocessing, testing and fuel guarantees. While the Bush administration has not publicly hardened its stance as yet, the increasingly shrill comments by senior US officials in the US media are being seen as reflecting their insistence that India must come around. What started off as individual laments has become a refrain.

At this end, the government is determined not to make any concession beyond what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid out in Parliament.

There is a hope that a Manmohan-Bush session can resolve the logjam. But here too, there are limits to what the PM can concede, with Congress sources ruling out any concession over and above the bottom-line sketched by the government in Parliament.




Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Rigid_stance_of_US_puts_N-deal_at_risk/articleshow/1940444.cms

[hlthe2b]

1. oh no... does this mean

No Indian Mangoes? :eyes:

[madrchsod]

2. what? no mangoes??

[Miss Chybil]

3. You took the words out of my mouth! nt