Nuclear Energy in India faces external obstacles from old adversaries China and Pakistan

Landmark Nuclear Deal between US and India removes India’s pariah status

The landmark Nuclear Energy deal signed between USA and India was supposed to herald the entry of India into a new Nuclear Age and remove the pariah status.India’s Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998 had led to international condemnation and nuclear sanctions as well as tit for tat nuclear tests by arch enemy Pakistan.However India’s growing economic might and huge markets had led the USA move closer to India.Under President Bush,India signed a comprehensive Nuclear Treaty with the US which would allow India to procure nuclear material and equipment from other countries.This long drawn process which would allow India to get a special exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was the crowning achievement of India-US close relations in recent times.Note India is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which forbids any nuclear trade with non-members of the group.However in case of India an exception had been made despite some protests by fringe countries like Australia and New Zealand.

The U.S.-India Nuclear Deal – Council of Foreign Relations

The U.S. Congress on October 1, 2008, gave final approval to an agreement facilitating nuclear cooperation between the United States and India. The deal is seen as a watershed in U.S.-India relations and introduces a new aspect to international nonproliferation efforts. First introduced in the joint statement released by President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 18, 2005, the deal lifts a three-decade U.S. moratorium on nuclear trade with India. It provides U.S. assistance to India’s civilian nuclear energy program, and expands U.S.-India cooperation in energy and satellite technology. But critics in the United States say the deal fundamentally reverses half a century of U.S. nonproliferation efforts, undermines attempts to prevent states like Iran and North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons, and potentially contributes to a nuclear arms race in Asia. “It’s an unprecedented deal for India,” says Charles D. Ferguson, science and technology fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “If you look at the three countries outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)-Israel, India, and Pakistan-this stands to be a unique deal.”

China trying to block India’s Nuclear Energy growth using Pakistan as a proxy

Pakistan which has fought more than 3 wars with India since both countries independence from British rule in 1947,regards India as an existential threat.Relations between these 2 neighbours continues to be one of the most tense in the globe with both countries armed with nuclear weapons.Unlike India,Pakistan’s Nuclear Technology has mostly been procured from outside through both legal and illegal means.Pakistan has already been convicted of being amongst the biggest proliferators of nuclear weapon technology.However this has not thwarted with Pakistan’s foremost ally and India baiter China to plan on building 2 nuclear energy reactors in Pakistan.China has always tried to checkmate India using Pakistan as a proxy by giving it weapons and technology on extremely generous terms.While Pakistan is on the verge of becoming a failed state due to increasing Talibanisation and a Basket economy,China’s gift of nuclear reactors can only have one meaning.China wants the world to question India’s special nuclear status. It is trying to checkmate the US -India deal using Pakistan as a willing puppet.Note Nuclear Energy Equipment Giants like Areva,GE-Hitachi and Toshiba-Westinghouse have been planning to invest huge amounts into India’s Nuclear sector.However these moves at the very least make them slowdown these Billion Dollar Investments if not bring them to a complete standstill.

India’s nuclear ambition runs up against China’s – Economic Times

China and Pakistan are threatening to disrupt India’s nuclear aspirations by stepping up collaboration of their own, a prospect that has raised international misgivings and revived concern about the wisdom of making a special case for India. China is now proposing to build two reactors at Pakistan’s Chashma complex, a move based on the logic that if the United States can secure a deal for India, then China should be allowed to do the same for Pakistan.

AQ Khan Pakistan’s salesman for Nuclear Weapons Proliferation – Nuclear News

Pakistan has actively, willingly and illegally supplied Nuclear Weapons to every rogue nation on Earth from North Korea in exchange of its missile technology to Libya in an apparent support of the Islamic brotherhood. Every country that has ever tried to acquire Nuclear Weapons technology illegally has found a more than willing supplier in Pakistan.

At the heart of this vast and flourishing Nuclear proliferation racket of Pakistan stands one man Abdul Qadeer Khan [aka Abdul Xerox Khan aka Photochor Khan]. A trained Metallurgist of immense disrepute, he has been the person whom the Pakistan government and Army has entrusted to peddle Pakistan’s nuclear wares anybody and everybody willing to pay for it.

China-Pakistan deal raises fears of nuclear proliferation – CS Monitor

A $2.4 billion nuclear reactor deal between China and Pakistan aimed at reducing Pakistan’s chronic energy shortage has cast light on the decades-old strategic partnership that Chinese President Hu Jintao described as “higher than the mountains, deeper than the oceans.”The agreement, announced last week, would see the construction two 650-Megawatt nuclear reactors, and it reaffirms the longtime alliance between the two nations particularly as their shared rival India and the United States also deepen ties.