In India, Outcry Over U.S. Letter

Washington Post
Sep 4, 2008

NEW DELHI: A day after a secret letter from the U.S. State Department to Congress about the controversial nuclear energy deal with India was made public, Indian opposition figures cried foul, accusing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of willfully misleading the nation about restrictive aspects of the deal. The letter contradicts a commitment that Singh made to Parliament in August 2007, the critics said. He had told legislators that "the agreement does not in any way affect India's right to undertake future nuclear tests, if it is necessary." Officials in Singh's government "have indulged in a farce which is unparalleled in our diplomatic and parliamentary history," the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party said in a statement. "It is now crystal clear that India will lose the right to nuclear tests forever as a result of this agreement."