NEW DELHI, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- A group of Indian nuclear scientists has urged parliament to reject any restraint on the country's freedom of nuclear research.
"The U.S. Congress has modified the implementation of the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement and if the draft U.S. law is passed in the present form, the product will become unacceptable to India," eight top nuclear scientists said in a statement.
They said it would be difficult to scrap these modifications once legislated and added that parliament must work out and insist on the ground rules for the nuclear deal.
The scientists led by three former chairmen of the Atomic Energy Commission welcomed the initial agreement saying, "The scientists hail the July 18,2005 agreement with the U.S. and welcome India's prospective entry into the international nuclear community".
The statement identifies four areas of concern. First, that India cannot accede to any restraint in perpetuity on its freedom of action as far as the strategic requirements of its nuclear option are concerned.
"Universal nuclear disarmament must be our ultimate aim and until we see the light at the end of the tunnel, we cannot accept agreement in perpetuity," the statement said.
Second, they say India's capability to sensitive technological areas should not be subjected to external control and that safeguards should be strictly restricted to those facilities and materials imported from external sources.
Third, the scientists said the U.S. draft law infringes on India's independence for carrying out research in nuclear science and the technology. Finally they said it is parliament has the right to decide the basic principles of on, which the deal would be implemented.
