Senate panel clears N-deal as PM lands in US

WASHINGTON: A US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday approved the US-India Nuclear Agreement by a 19-2 margin even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in NEW YORK, providing a glimmer of hope that the deal would be consummated by the time he visits Washington DC on Thursday.

The Senate panel appended agreement for consideration at its business meeting on Tuesday at the very last minute, adding it as item no.9 in its mark-up list. It was not immediately clear who were the two lawmakers who voted against it, but at the SFRC hearing last week, Senators Barbara Boxer of California and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin took the strongest stand against the deal.

Action is now awaited on the House side.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in New York even as President Bush began a major re-casting of the war on terror by moving the focus from Iraq to Pakistan-Afghanistan in the waning days of his presidency, while at the same time battling a financial conflagration that threatens to engulf the world.

The twin crisis has put the much-awaited US-India nuclear deal on the backburner as Washington, euphemism for the US administration, has momentarily moved to New York, and is seized with more urgent priorities that also affect India.

Among them is the new American resolve to get a handle on Pakistan, which will require New Delhi's cooperation and inputs given India's influential position and stakes in the region, particularly in Afghanistan. A more active Indian role in the region, including additional inputs in Afghanistan, is slated for discussion when Prime Minister Singh meets Bush in the White House on September 25.

Bush met Pakistan's newly-elected, but already embattled, leader Asif Ali Zardari in New York first-up on Tuesday even as the White House began a major re-appraisal of its policy in the region, spurred by the horrendous bombing of the Marriott in Islamabad.

The usual bromides about Pakistan being an ally in the war on terror was essayed by both leaders, but fundamentally, the White House appears to be correcting its policy of extreme dependency on Pakistan's military and intelligence, which have now been assessed as being unreliable and treacherous, public affirmation about cooperation notwithstanding.

In remarks that followed their meeting, Bush indicated that Zardari had brought up the issue of US incursions into Pakistan in a strong way, but offered no assurance that it would end.

"Your words have been very strong about Pakistan's sovereign right and sovereign duty to protect your country, and the United States wants to help," Bush said, remaining non-committal on the hot-button issue.

From all accounts though, Washington now wants to strengthen the hands of Pakistan's civilian government, make the country's military subservient to it as it happens in most democracies, and purge the ISI of rogue elements and subversive orientation. Pakistan's civilian leadership has seen the need for US intervention in areas that it has no control over, but the country's military generals, who have used the lawless regions as staging ground for jihad, are the ones resenting the US intrusion and putting pressure on the civilian leadership to make it an issue.

INDIA will be drawn into giving its take on the whole issue when the two sides have bilateral exchanges in Washington later this week, even as the conclusion of the nuclear deal, which remained on top of the agenda till this weekend, is up in the air.

Singh will also meet Zardari in NEW YORK tomorrow to discuss issues ranging from terrorism to trade and commerce, now that New Delhi has gotten over its fixation with deposed military dictator Pervez Musharraf.

Meanwhile, Indian officials were hopeful that the nuclear deal would be consummated in Congress before the Prime Minister's arrival in Washington on Thursday, but were not particularly exercised about the prospect of it not happening.

"We would rather it be done correctly than done hastily," one official involved in the proceedings told TOI.

US administration officials dealing with the matter were locked in battle with Democrats over the wording of the resolution to be presented in Congress, warning them that New Delhi would not accept any riders, even if they were non-binding.

Some Democrats, primed by non-proliferation hardliners, seem determined to shaft the deal even at this late stage by using a plethora of what officials describe as "spurious" arguments, including procedural issues.

All this is happening against the backdrop of the new Surge and Splurge that is roiling the capital. The new surge refers to the sudden diversion of US troops from Iraq to Afghanistan's border, following the Bush administration acceptance of Pakistan as the ground zero of the war on terror. The splurge refers to the infusion of government capital to resolve the Wall Street crisis.

Bush, making his final speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday morning, referred to both the war on terror and the financial crisis issues, expressing his determination to overcome both.
source : times of india