Is worried that wrangling may affect N-deal
NEW DELHI: On Friday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh once again reiterated his view that it is time for India to come out of international nuclear isolation.
The PM's rhetoric on Friday is more to reassure the international community that the pact is on track than to needle the Left again. There is growing concern in the government that the unseemly wrangling in Parliament over the bilateral nuclear agreement with the US may send the wrong message to member states of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee also made the same emphatic point. Negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on India specific protocol will be on. "Operationalisation means that you put the deal into effective implementation. The talks (with IAEA) cannot be a part of the operationalisation process," Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in his office in parliament.
Mukherjee confirmed what officials have privately being saying that when Anil Kakodhar, India's atomic commission chief, goes to Vienna in September for governing body meet, he will discuss the India-specific safeguards.
