The countdown for the NSG countries to sit together and deliberate the India-specific waiver in their nuclear trade policy has begun. For the Manmohan Singh Government and the Bush administration, any positive resolution from the group is really important. Both of them have taken risks to bring the deal to the table of the 45-member group. If the NSG does not agree to the proposals, the UPA Government's commitment will be questioned. The Left parties will compare the government's attempt to that of Don Quixote, who fought with imaginary enemies for nothing. The failure of the deal at this juncture will be akin to suicide for the Bush administration, when the presidential poll is round the corner.
There are really some organisations which are trying their best to get the deal foiled. Arms Control Association (ACA) in the US is one of them. The Arms Control Association (ACA), founded in 1971, is a national nonpartisan membership organisation dedicated to promoting public understanding of and support for effective arms control policies. Through its public education and media programs and its magazine, Arms Control Today (ACT), ACA provides policy-makers, the press and the interested public with authoritative information, analysis and commentary on arms control proposals, negotiations and agreements, and related national security issues. In addition to the regular press briefings ACA holds on major arms control developments, the Association's staff provides commentary and analysis on a broad spectrum of issues for journalists and scholars both in the United States and abroad.
ACA's intervention in arms control measures has been exemplary. The organisation has pressurised many government and non-government institutions against the moves towards weapanisation programmes. The organisation is forcing Israel and other Middle-East countries to adopt measures of de-weaponisation. India has not yet promised to cleanse itself of the nuclear arms it possesses, the organisation alleges. It is not part of the CTBT and other non-proliferation measures. That the NSG exports nuclear equipment and other facilities to India amounts to helping a country develop nuclear warheads. This is the arument of ACA regarding the nuclear deal.
ACA has succeeded in forcing at least 15 countries among the NSG to ask India to rewrite the draft. The organisation has said that the rewritten draft does not fulfill the demands the group has raised. Whether the organisation will succeed in jeopardising the deal will be seen after the crucial meeting today.