The Hindu : National : Group of Six may be flexible at NSG

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Group of Six may be flexible at NSG

Siddharth Varadarajan

NEW DELHI: The Nuclear Suppliers Group naysayers have more or less dropped their insistence on any prescriptive language requiring India’s future adherence to non-proliferation benchmarks such as the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, according to a range of European diplomatic sources familiar with the issue.

But the Group of Six likeminded nations — Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand and Switzerland — continue to press for language that could involve negative consequences for India in the event of Delhi abandoning its unilateral testing moratorium.

“Compromise formula”

A diplomat from the G-6 told The Hindu that the group had handed over on Friday morning a ‘compromise’ formula for a testing post-condition that “ought to satisfy India and us,” though he declined to provide details.

At the same time, there are signs of a possible thawing of the hardline attitudes seen within the NSG last week.

“Cosmetic changes”

Asked about the possibility of the G-6 accepting purely “cosmetic changes” to the original draft, something Indian officials say that is all they are prepared to accept, one diplomat from the group said “why not?”

Not the only forum

“Our countries wanted an expression of our strong views to come out but this does not mean the NSG is the only forum for this,” he said.

The diplomat added that the group was looking at the NSG waiver for India as a “political” rather than “technical” issue.

The diplomat said that while U.S. Ambassador David Mulford had “consulted” with Delhi-based ambassadors from the six countries on Thursday, the “real talking by the Americans is being done in Washington, Vienna and our capital cities, not here.”

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