United States Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Tuesday warned both India and the Bush administration to stop picking holes in the enabling legislation that was adopted overwhelmingly by both his committee and the House International Relations Committee in June if they wanted the India-US civilian nuclear agreement to become a reality.
Lugar, who spoke at the 10th anniversary of the Indian American Friendship Council, asserted that both his committee and the House International Relations Committee chaired by Republican Congressman Henry Hyde had crafted the enabling legislation with much deliberation and difficulty and implied any attempt to tamper with the legislation and remove provisions that India has said it is unhappy with, could result in the deal going down the tube.
He also told rediff.com that it is highly unlikely that the legislation would be debated on the Senate floor before the summer recess, which begins on August 4, and said he had received no date from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist as to when such a floor debate and vote would be scheduled. "I hope that after that (the summer recess) will be the push. I hope so."
Asked if it would take place before the Congressional elections in November, Lugar replied, "That's what I am pressing for."
In his remarks to the Council, Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, said, "There are some in our State Department and there are some in the Indian Foreign Office who say, 'Well, now listen, these Senators, or these members of the House, changed the language here a little bit -- this is not exactly what we signed on to -- and what about this little addition here and that one there.'"
"Let me just say," Lugar asserted, "without being obnoxious, this is the Congress at work. This is the liberty process," and added, "I would counsel that I believe that the changes are constructive, but even if they are controversial, I am hopeful that statesmen on both sides -- India and the United States -- will not be so adamant."
He warned that if this were to happen with India or the administration trying to make any changes in the legislation as had been adopted by the Senate and House Committees that results in the bills being delayed, it would be detrimental to the US-India strategic partnership that many lawmakers are so much in favor of "because in my judgement it must happen in due course -- the history of our two countries coming together is so important for the history of the world as well as for our basic security."
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared after his meeting with President George W Bush at the G-8 Summit in St Petersburg that "the political process in the US knows our concerns and they will be taken into account."
"We said the July 18 Joint Statement and the separation plan should be the guiding factors for the legislation. We cannot take any more commitments that are not explicitly stated in the statement. The broad parameters are clearly spelt out in the agreement," Dr Singh said.
The prime minister said on his return flight that "the US President gave a clear message that there would be no shifting of the goal post."
Lugar said the civilian nuclear agreement announced by President Bush and Dr Singh on July 18, 2005, and negotiated and inked during President Bush's visit to India in March presented a set of issues which were as difficult "for members of our Senate and House of Representatives" as much as it was for "many in the Parliament of India to debate," in part because "we have very vigorous persons -- who I respect in the non-proliferation community -- who have been working through issues of non-proliferation for many years, who take this very seriously and are very eager that all the i's be dotted and the t's crossed and that we are thoughtful about arrangements that our country or India may enter into."
"So as a result, we've approached the issues in our Foreign Relations Committee deliberations very steadily, likewise in a manner in which I hope to bring about the largest majority of support that was possible on both sides," he said of the 16-2 vote on the enabling bill he authored with the ranking Democrat on the Committee Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.
"And, we approached that deliberately because as some of you in your role as citizens day by day note, that on many issues our Congress is very polarised -- very partisan," he said.
Lugar said if the original legislation as proposed by the administration had been left to Congress with a "take it or leave it," kind of message, "on this particular case, the Congress would have left it, inconceivable as that may be to the Indian Americans," who believe that both the House and Senate would have rubber-stamped the deal.
"Why? Simply because there was a feeling that the whole idea of nuclear proliferation in this world is taking a very bad turn," Lugar explained.
"We are now dealing with North Korea, and we are dealing with Iran, and we are dealing with even Japanese statesmen who says, 'If you cannot control test flying missiles over our country, we may need to go into nuclear energy ourselves and perhaps weapons.' Or even the South Koreans, who say the six-party talks may be turning into a six-nuclear power talks rather than compressing the dilemma that is going on in our world," he said.
"Those are the realities in which we are debating all of this," Lugar said.
He said Majority Leader Frist had told him that since he (Lugar) is "sort of carrying the ball here," on this enabling legislation, "to make sure all the rest of the Senate is informed of what's going on this."
"So I've written a long letter to my fellow Senators trying to incorporate the best elements in the debate that we've had," which led to the 16-2 vote in favor of the enabling legislation, Lugar said.
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