Boucher's statement creates confusion over Hyde Act

The United States official landed in Delhi on a two-day official visit Tuesday with a strong message that time was running out for the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.

The US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asia Richard Boucher visit came just a day later when the Indian government expressed it was committing to evolve a broad political consensus among all political parties.

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In reverse to a government’s statement, the US has said the Hyde Act will have to be considered at the time of concluding civilian nuclear agreement with India.

Hardly 24 hours ago, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee claimed in Parliament that the Hyde Act was not binding on India.

“The Hyde Act is a domestic legislation (and) the 123 Agreement is an international agreement. I think we can move forward with both in a consistent manner,” said Boucher while replying to reporters’ query whether the Hyde Act would have any bearing on the nuclear deal.

As per the diplomatic sources Richard Boucher in his discussion with Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon stressed that time was running out for India to wrap up the safeguards pact with the IAEA so that the agreement could be ratified by the US Congress before the end of July as the US was passing through full election mode.

He said that before the current government term comes to an end, both the countries should finalise the deal failing which the deal could be dumped into cold bags at least for 2-3 years.

However, he did not mention any deadline for concluding the nuclear deal but hoped that India would be able to find a way to take the deal forward on a positive note.

Meanwhile, the Indian delegation team is reported to have returned from the current round of talks with IAEA officials in Vienna accompanied a near-final agreement, which will be discussed with the Left partners.

While the chief Opposition Leader L K Advani on Monday had asked the government to convince and clear the matter on nuclear deal with all the opposition parties and not the Left only.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee stated in parliament just a day ago of Boucher’s arrival to New Delhi that the government was trying to develop a broad political consensus on the issue.

He also tried to dismiss apprehension expressed by the left parties and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party that certain provisions in US domestic legislation, the Hyde Act which enables the pact with India, would affect India’s rights and obligations as set out by its bilateral 123 Agreement with the US.

But neither the BJP nor the Left got convinced on the explanation and opposed the deal saying it would interrupt the country’s sovereignty.

Confusion over Hyde Act

The US Assistant Secretary of state Richard Boucher stated on Tuesday after his arrival in New Delhi that the Hyde Act would have to be taken into account while operationalising the civilian nuclear agreement.

The statement was just the carbon copy of the statement stated by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she told the US House Foreign Affairs panel last month that they would support nothing with India that was in contradiction to the Hyde Act. It would have to be completely consistent with the obligations of the Hyde Act or she didn’t believe they could count on Congress to make the next step.

On the other hand in Parliament, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday insisted that India’s rights and obligation on civilian nuclear cooperation rose only from the 123 Agreement that “we have agreed upon.” He also said in the parliament that the Hyde Act would have no bearing on India.

But Boucher statement on Tuesday again has created confusion in the minds of critics of the deal over the Hyde Act.