Burns will prepare base for Hillary visit

US under secretary for political affairs, William Burns, will be in India from June 10-13. The visit will lay the groundwork for his boss, secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s much awaited first trip next month. Though American officials say that Clinton will focus primarily on furthering India-US relations, India wants to turn her attention to Pakistan and its reluctance so far to catch those responsible for the Mumbai terror attack.

New Delhi, which has been smarting ever since a Lahore court   freed   Jamat-Ud-Dawa  chief Hafeez Sayeed for  lack of evidence, will want the discussions to be centred on Indian security concerns. This will be clearly spelt out during Burns’ talks with foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and his meeting with foreign minister SM Krishna. The under secretary will also visit Mumbai and possibly meet scientists at Barc.

India will make it clear to Washington that while it is ready to talk peace with Pakistan and help the civilian government, it cannot do so unless there is some signal of willingness from across the border to help out in the investigations. Public opinion in India will go against the government if it decides to resume peace talks without getting anything in return.

Since Washington seems happy with the Pakistan army for taking action against the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces in Swat, this has eased pressure off Lashkar-e-toiba and other anti-India terror groups.

India’s efforts will be to bringing home to Burns the urgent necessity for Pakistan to act.

The India-US civilian nuclear deal will also be discussed. The end-use clause which American companies seek before doing nuclear business with other countries have still to be worked out. Unless this is done, US companies cannot supply nuclear reactors or technology to India.

Though the Bush administration was responsible for getting the Nuclear Suppliers Group  to grant a waiver to India, American companies have not so far benefited from the landmark deal. Russia and France have already signed up with India. “This is no stumbling block. We just need a battery of lawyers on both sides to work out a formula acceptable to all. We want a generic agreement instead of separate deals for each power plant  or reactor built or fuel supplied.  Once this is done, India-US nuclear trade will flourish,” a senior Indian official said.