Meanwhile in Vienna, Pak pushes for a vote on India’s safeguards pact

NEW DELHI, JULY 21: While New Delhi debates the survival of the Manmohan Singh government over the Indo-US nuclear deal, Pakistan is stepping up diplomatic efforts in Vienna to press for a vote on the India-specific safeguards agreement besides questioning the hurry shown by the IAEA to obtain approval for this agreement.

As a member of the 35-member IAEA board of governors, Pakistan, sources said, is holding out against a consensus in the informal consultations underway among board members in Vienna ahead of the August 1 board meet that will consider this matter. Sources said hectic diplomacy is going on, especially by the US, to get Pakistan not to block a consensus.

Usually, the “Vienna spirit” is to achieve a consensus regardless of which side the majority is on any issue that comes to IAEA. Voting has always been the last option and, in fact, the last voting took place on the Iran nuclear programme two years ago. According to officials, there has rarely been an instance of voting on a safeguards agreement.

While this issue is still in the realm of informal consultations, sources said, Islamabad has in the past couple of weeks raised objections to the urgency being shown in Vienna to push the India-specific safeguards agreement.

At first, it raised a technical point that the nuclear facilities to be brought under safeguards have not been listed in the annexures of the agreement finalised with India. As a board member, Pakistan took the view that the IAEA secretariat should wait till the facilities can be specifically listed and then bring the matter before the board of governors.

Further, Pakistan questioned the urgency for making an exception to the 45-60-day period usually needed for the board of governors to consider any such matter. While the IAEA secretariat and other members of the board prevailed on grounds that there have been precedents where such exceptions have been made, Pakistan seems to be continuing with its efforts.

Currently, sources said, hectic diplomacy is underway to get Pakistan not to insist on its demand. The danger of voting would mean that several other

countries which have strong positions on non-proliferation and are also members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group will be forced to take positions on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

This, in turn, can have an adverse fallout in the NSG where these countries would be bound by a public stand. Since NSG takes its decisions only by way of consensus, a lack of flexibility may escalate problems for US interlocutors who will be making the case for India.

Already the confusion over holding the July 18 briefing has had its effect. Initially, India had notified the IAEA that the briefing will be in the Agency for all members. Then, it withdrew the notice. Few hours later, New Delhi said it will hold the briefing outside IAEA for the board and NSG members. Amid all this back and forth, EU countries requested a special briefing by the IAEA secretariat as not all EU members of the IAEA could have been present at the India briefing.