.NEW DELHI/ NEW YORK: Alarm bells are ringing in New Delhi after a key US legislator struck a discordant note on Wednesday by asking the Bush Administration to shelve the Indo-US nuclear deal till January 2009 to give the US Congress sufficient time to study the complex issues arising out of this unique accord.

Though Indian officials declined to comment immediately, they appeared perturbed because the legislator is not someone who can be taken lightly. He is Howard Berman, Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who, along with Senator Joe Biden, will pilot the 123 agreement through the US Congress to complete the final stage for operationalisation of the nuclear deal.

In a letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Berman has warned the Bush Administration to ensure that the Indian waiver currently under negotiation with the Nuclear Suppliers Group, is not “inconsistent” with the provisions of the Hyde Act. He has demanded that the waiver include the following key elements: the immediate termination of all nuclear commerce by NSG member states if India detonates a nuclear explosive device or if the IAEA determines that India has violated its safeguards commitments; a prohibition on transfer of enrichment, reprocessing and heavy water production technology by any NSG member to India; and a stipulation that NSG supplier states will not allow India to reprocess nuclear fuel except in a facility that is under permanent and unconditional safeguards.

“All these complex issues should be examined in a serious and detailed fashion and it would be better to shelve the deal till Congress meets in January 2009….Even if the India-specific agreement reaches Congress by September 8, it is unlikely that Congress will have sufficient time to fully consider all the issues surrounding the deal, the associated safeguards agreement, and the NSG decision — and to ascertain their impact on US and global nonproliferation standards,” Berman said in his letter.