123: Now Menon to sort out the ABCs

On the sidelines of his scheduled engagement on the global issues, Menon is slated to meet Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns in Washington on May 1 in a bid to overcome the hurdles in the closure of the 123 agreement.

However, Menon takes over from Saran at a time when there is growing frustration in both New Delhi and Washington over hardening of positions in the negotiations of 123 agreement. The UPA leadership is finding itself in a corner with both the Left and the BJP harping on India’s right to test a nuclear device and no compromise on the right to reprocessing of spent fuel. And to add to UPA’s woes are the unbridled Atomic Energy Commission officials, who vent their unsolicited views on the 123 negotiations time and again.

It is understood that Saran has already informed Manmohan Singh that Menon should handle the 123 negotiations as they have a direct impact on the future of Indo-US relations, which the latter is handling on a day-to-day basis. While the Special Envoy may still give solicited advice on 123 agreement to the political leadership, his immediate unenviable task is to push the non-proliferation mantra chanting NSG members like Austria, Switzerland, Canada and the Netherlands in support of the changing guidelines for India.

On the other hand, Saran is expected to fly out with Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt next month to the western sector in Ladakh to push the improvement of road infrastructure in Daulat Beg Oldi and Demchok near the Line of Actual Control with China.

Even as Menon goes to Washington for the crucial meeting with Burns, the Americans have indicated in their last meeting at Cape Town that they can show more flexibility on policy issues like reprocessing rather than legal issues in case India were to conduct a nuclear test in the future.

The Americans in fact offered that the reprocessing issue, which is linked to India’s three phased nuclear cycle, could be left out in the 123 agreement and negotiated at a later stage with the safeguards.

New Delhi, on its part, wants the reprocessing issue to be mentioned in the 123 agreement and wants a nuanced way out in the testing issue that keeps the door of negotiations open on the return of nuclear plants and fuel in case India goes for a nuclear test. The latter could be done by leaving some scope for negotiations rather than an abrupt end to Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation.

With Saran out of the picture, it is now Menon’s task to get a closure on the 123 agreement or the matter will require the political will of Manmohan Singh to finally see it through.