New Delhi: Influential American Senator and former Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry has said India has given him full assurances to follow international norms on its nuclear weapons programme.
In an interview to CNN-IBN, Senator Kerry said: "By entering into this agreement, India will in fact put a very significant majority component of its nuclear programmes under the review of the IIEA, which it is not today... India will in fact reduce what is available to go into the military capacity that strengthens the non-proliferation efforts from where they are today..."
He also said that a majority of India's nuclear facilities are civilian in nature. Therefore, there is no issue with bringing them under safeguards.
But India is unlikely to accept any restrictions that would limit its nuclear weapons programme.
Implementation of the Indo-US deal on civilian nuclear cooperation will mean grant of nuclear power status to India, Kerry said, adding that he has full support for the agreement.
He said the deal, with 'enormous benefits' bilaterally, cannot be seen only in the context of Indo-US relations, but had implications at the global level.
Kerry, a member of the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told him during their meeting on Wednesday that India would sign the Fissile Material Control Treaty (FMCT).
"It will be incoherent to suggest that if the (Indo-US) agreement (on civilian nuclear cooperation) comes through, it will not grant nuclear power status to India. Obviously, it does," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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