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In Vienna, Pak pushes for a vote on
India’s safeguards pact
WSN Bureau
 NEW DELHI: While
New Delhi debated the survival of the Manmohan Singh government over
the Indo-US nuclear deal, Pakistan stepped up diplomatic efforts in
Vienna to press for a vote on the India-specific safeguards
agreement besides questioning the hurry shown by the IAEA to obtain
approval for this agreement.
As a member of
the 35-member IAEA board of governors,
Pakistan is
holding out against a consensus in the informal consultations
underway among board members in Vienna ahead of the August 1 board
meet that will consider this matter. Hectic diplomacy is going on,
especially by the US, to get Pakistan not to block a consensus.
Usually, the “Vienna
spirit” is to achieve a consensus regardless of which side the
majority is on any issue that comes to IAEA. Voting has always been
the last option and, in fact, the last voting took place on the
Iran
nuclear programme two years ago. According to officials, there has
rarely been an instance of voting on a safeguards agreement.
While this issue
is still in the realm of informal consultations, sources said,
Islamabad
has in the past couple of weeks raised objections to the urgency
being shown in Vienna to push the India-specific safeguards
agreement.
At first, it
raised a technical point that the nuclear facilities to be brought
under safeguards have not been listed in the annexures of the
agreement finalised with
India. As a
board member, Pakistan took the view that the IAEA secretariat
should wait till the facilities can be specifically listed and then
bring the matter before the board of governors.
Further,
Pakistan
questioned the urgency for making an exception to the 45-60-day
period usually needed for the board of governors to consider any
such matter. While the IAEA secretariat and other members of the
board prevailed on grounds that there have been precedents where
such exceptions have been made, Pakistan seems to be continuing with
its efforts.
Currently,
hectic diplomacy is underway to get
Pakistan not to
insist on its demand. The danger of voting would mean that several
other countries which have strong positions on non-proliferation and
are also members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group will be forced to
take positions on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
This, in turn,
can have an adverse fallout in the NSG where these countries would
be bound by a public stand. Since NSG takes its decisions only by
way of consensus, a lack of flexibility may escalate problems for US
interlocutors who will be making the case for
India.
Already the
confusion over holding the July 18 briefing has had its effect.
Initially,
India had
notified the IAEA that the briefing will be in the Agency for all
members. Then, it withdrew the notice. Few hours later,
New Delhi
said it will hold the briefing outside IAEA for the board and NSG
members. Amid all this back and forth, EU countries requested a
special briefing by the IAEA secretariat as not all EU members of
the IAEA could have been present at the India briefing.
23
July, 2008
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