BEL issue to figure in Indo-US talks

NEW DELHI, June 4: Indo-US relationship seems set to enter a new, rocky phase with New Delhi rejecting Washington's charges that Bharat Ele...

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NEW DELHI, June 4: Indo-US relationship seems set to enter a new, rocky phase with New Delhi rejecting Washington’s charges that Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) was involved in contributing towards the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

When secretary (east) K Raghunath visits Washington sometime in the middle of this month, he is expected to flag India’s concerns that the US department of commerce has identified Bharat Electronics as an entity to which all US export would now need a special licence. Earlier, the licence was applicable only to certain products. The attempt to hype up the deployment of the Prithvi missiles on the Indo-Pakistan border is also expected to figure in the talks with officials in Washington. The US department of commerce in early May published an Entity List, on which BEL was named as an entity to which all US exports would now need a special licence.

“We have done that because of our concern that these two entities (the other is Ben-Gurion university in Israel) is involved in activities which may contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” Eileen Albanese, director of the office of Exporter Services in Commerce, then said.

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US officials also say they believe that BEL has transferred dual-use components bought from the US to ISRO and then onwards to the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) for the manufacture of missiles.

But highly-placed government sources said India had given guarantees under the 1987 Indo-US transfer of high-technology agreement that “high-technology components would not be transferred to other countries and that end-user certificates would be given.

“Next, anything, even a screwdriver will be called a dual-use weapon,” the source added.

There is some anger in the concerned ministries of defence, external affairs, electronics and others, which feel that the US is “unilaterally” extending the scope of restrictions under the missile control technology regime (MTCR) and the nuclear suppliers group (NSG) to target countries that it could have a problem with. Officials said that if BEL suffers under future sanctions from US companies, it will not only have some impact on the bilateral relationship, but that trade with the US will suffer. Last year, BEL imported $ 25 million worth of equipment and material from the US.

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India’s ambassador to the US Naresh Chandra has also been in the capital helping prepare Raghunath’s visit. Raghunath, who takes over as foreign secretary on July 1, is likely to meet Thomas Pickering, the powerful under-secretary of state for political affairs and Strobe Talbott, deputy secretary of state and number two to Madeleine Albright, the secretary of state.