Key US lawmaker threatens to hold up India nuclear deal

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Source: AFP

A key US lawmaker threatened to hold up a landmark US-India nuclear agreement unless nuclear supplier states adopt a provision terminating the deal if India conducted a nuclear test explosion.

Howard Berman, chairman of the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee, said if the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) did not impose such a condition, the deal could not be approved before President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.

"Given the lateness in the Congressional session, it would be better to review these complex matters in the next Congress when they can receive a full and serious examination," the Democratic legislator said in a letter Wednesday to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

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Daryl Kimball, executive director of the US Arms Control Association, said Berman's letter was "very useful and significant.



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