India: Nuclear pact causes deep rift

Source: Christian Science Monitor

New Delhi, India - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is steadfastly refusing to renege on a historic nuclear deal with the United States, even though the row threatens to bring down his government.

This weekend, communist allies to India's United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the coalition headed by Mr. Singh's Congress party, made a thinly veiled threat that they would withdraw from the government if it did not cease negotiations with the US over a nuclear-energy pact.

The pact, agreed to this month after two years of discussions, has attracted international criticism because it allows India to buy civil nuclear technology from the US, despite the fact that India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has tested nuclear weapons. In return, India would open its civil nuclear reactors to inspectors.

The deal is regarded as the most important act between the world's two biggest democracies since India's independence 60 years ago, laying the foundation for a new strategic alliance between them – and a major foreign-policy triumph for Singh.


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