US-India Pact Irks Pakistan

INDIA and the US have spelt out a plan to share civilian nuclear technology, sparking criticism from Pakistan at a time when the prospects of Australian uranium exports to India are increasing.

Much of the text of the so-called 1-2-3 agreement released yesterday had already been disclosed by officials in Delhi and Washington, who last month announced they had finalised the joint nuclear pact following a year of negotiations.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer recently signalled a change in Australias policy on the export of Australian uranium to India, saying the Government would consider the sale, provided India allowed inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

India has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which limits the number of countries with nuclear weapons. Australia has previously denied exports of uranium to countries outside the NPT framework.

But Mr Downer said Indias growing energy needs and its record as a responsible country that had not exported nuclear weapons technology meant Australia should consider uranium sales. Last month, he said that exporting uranium from Australia to India was a "real possibility".

The US-India agreement is widely seen as cornerstone of an emerging partnership between India and the US following decades of frayed relations. But the deal has also drawn criticism for glossing over Indias refusal to sign the NPT and past nuclear weapons tests.

The text of the agreement gave Delhi the right to stockpile and reprocess fuel, a key step in making atomic weapons.

However, reprocessing is to take place at a facility safeguarded by UN inspectors to prevent it from being used in bombs.

Pakistan reacted angrily, suggesting the deal would have "implications on strategic stability" in South Asia because it would "enable India to produce significant quantities of fissile material and nuclear weapons from unsafeguarded nuclear reactors".

The text makes no mention of what happens in the event of an Indian weapons test, although it does state that if the fuel supply from the US is cut off for any reason — an Indian test presumably among them — that Washington would help find third countries to supply Delhis reactors.

The deal allows the US to ship nuclear fuel and technology to India, which, in exchange, would open its civilian nuclear reactors to international inspectors. Indias military reactors would remain off-limits.

Indian and US lawmakers now need to approve the deal. India also needs to make separate agreements with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly of nations that export nuclear material.

With AP

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