US frustrated by slow progress on the shipment of nukes

April 21: The Indo-US nuke deal that received approval last year has suddenly lost its vigour. The US President Bush signed late last year an agreement, an exception to US law, which allows the shipment of civilian nuclear fuel to India. After months of anticipation the process is going through several hiccups and making the deal cumbersome and slow. Among several obstacles hindering the trade is the recent negotiations between the countries on an overall cooperation agreement.

The US State Department expressed annoyance with the pace of negotiations on the final agreement that would sanction civil nuclear technology transfers to India.

It was observed in the reports that the US officials blamed India and said that 'India has made unrealistic demands, such as retaining the right to test nuclear weapons.’ Also the Indian government has suggested United States to change some laws in order to facilitate a settlement, but State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the option is not being considered.

“We're not going to do that. We can't do that,� McCormack said on Friday.

According to Congressional bill the nuclear cooperation could be suspended if India conducted a test. “Analysts from India argue that the Congressional bill changed the nature of the deal,� was revealed by various media reports.

“Nobody's questioning the Indian government's good will and good faith,� McCormack said. “We still have faith that we are going to get this done.�

He further added that some progress has been made at discussions in South Africa in recent days, but much remains to be done. McCormack said that the members of Congress are concerned about the lack of progress otherwise there is no case of disbelief among the parties.

Foreign Secretary, Shiv Shanker Menon, will visit Washington on May 1 for a couple of days to negotiate and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns will visit India later in the month and will try to wrap up the agreement.

"We still have faith that we're going to be able to get this agreement done, and we believe that the Indian government is committed to that. But we're at a stage in these particular negotiations where we think we need to raise the level of dialogue to a political level in order to move it forward," McCormack added, stressing on the point that he will not go to the extent of saying that all hope is lost.

After ratification, US civilian nuclear trade with India would be permitted in exchange for safeguards and UN inspections at India's 14 civilian nuclear plants. At the same time some eight military plants would be off-limits.