June 12, 2007
India, US to Talk
Non-proliferation Wednesday
New Delhi
Even as India and the US try to put their civil nuclear negotiations
back on track, the two countries will start two-day talks Wednesday
to strengthen global non-proliferation and discuss security threats
facing the world.
The US team led by Assistant Secretary of State John C. Rood will
discuss with officials of the Indian external affairs ministry a
wide range of issues to buttress bilateral cooperation to strengthen
global non-proliferation efforts.
The Indian side is likely to be led by Hamid Ali Rao, joint
secretary (disarmament) in the external affairs ministry.
The two sides will also discuss multilateral initiatives and
strategic trade controls and regional security matters. Rood comes
here after attending the third meeting of the Global Initiative to
Combat Nuclear Terrorism in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The dialogue is based on India's record in non-proliferation and
aims at making New Delhi an active partner against proliferation.
The dialogue has become specially important in the last two years in
order to counter a powerful non-proliferation lobby that fears that
the India-US civil nuclear deal may end up subverting the global
non-proliferation regime.
India, on its part, will again highlight the dangers of clandestine
proliferation, especially by the underground nuclear market such as
the one managed by Pakistan's top nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan.
The Khan network, as it is called, had sold nuclear technology to
North Korea, Libya and Iran, according to Washington.
Addressing a 30-nation "Global Initiative Nuclear Terrorism
Conference" in Miami Monday, FBI director Robert Mueller warned
against the growing danger of nuclear terrorism, especially by
operations like the Khan network.
"A.Q. Khan, for example, was not only the father of Pakistan's
nuclear bomb, he peddled that technology to North Korea, Libya and
Iran. Khan was one of many to prove that it is indeed a seller's
market in the so-called atomic bazaar," said Mueller.
"The economics of supply and demand dictate that someone, somewhere
will provide nuclear material to the highest bidder, and that
material will end up in the hands of terrorists," Mueller warned.
The talks come soon after the government set up a three-member task
force, including security expert K. Subrahmanyam, Shyam Saran, the
prime minister's special envoy on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal,
and Arundhati Ghose, former ambassador to the Conference on
Disarmament, to evolve informed positions on issues like
non-proliferation, missile defence and fissile materials.
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