WASHINGTON: The US has said that India retains the “sovereign right” to explode a nuclear device but it hopes such a situation will not arise, Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state, was quoted as saying. Burns gave a special briefing on Friday to a group of Indian correspondents based here to mark the release of the text of the Indian-American nuclear cooperation agreement. “India retains its sovereign rights, but the US retains its legal rights as well,” he said when asked if India has the right to test. He pointed out that the agreement takes into account the “worst case” scenario, “but we hope very much that it won’t be necessary because we hope that conditions that prompt” it “will not materialise”.
Burns said larger nuclear powers have abstained from conducting nuclear tests and he expected India to follow suit. He said the US retains the “legal right” to recall fuel and technology it supplies to India but that would be the “choice” of the president of the day and it would not be “automatic”.
| We'll just cough politely and look away 'til someone throws on a blanket. |