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US President Barack Obama, who submitted a the report of US – India nuke deal to the US Congress, has mentioned in his letter that US will work towards restricting India’s nuclear weapons expansion programme.
The Presidential letter has to be submitted by the US President under section 204 of the US-India Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Act in every six months.
Section 204 (a) of what the Obama White House formally calls the ''US-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act'' requires the U.S President to certify to Congress that ''it is the policy of the U.S to work with members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), individually and collectively, to agree to further restrict the transfers of equipment and technology related to the enrichment of uranium and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel'' to India.
Section B of the act says the President ''shall seek to achieve, by the earliest possible date, either within the NSG or with relevant NSG Participating Governments, the adoption of principles, reporting, and exchanges of information as may be appropriate to assure peaceful use and accounting of by-product material.''
Distilled from the legalese is the commitment that the US will not allow India to in any way enhance its weapons-making capability riding on the civilian nuclear deal.
''We cannot tolerate a world in which nuclear weapons spread to more nations and in which the terror of a nuclear holocaust endangers more people. And that's why we've begun to take concrete steps to pursue a world without nuclear weapons, because all nations have the right to pursue peaceful nuclear power, but all nations have the responsibility to demonstrate their peaceful intentions,'' said Obama said after receiving the Nobel award.
''Some of the work confronting us will not be completed during my presidency. Some, like the elimination of nuclear weapons, may not be completed in my lifetime,'' Obama said post-award. ''But I know these challenges can be met so long as it's recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.''
