'Obama should endorse India's bid for permanent seat in UNSC'

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Oct 20 (PTI) US President Barack Obama should
endorse India's bid for permanent seat in the UN Security
Council, remove ISRO from the entities list and stop asking
New Delhi to join NPT as a non-nuclear state, according to a
report by two top Bush-era officials.
"Now is a critical time in this partnership, a moment to
transform past bilateral accomplishments into regional and
global successes. We urge American and Indian leaders to seize
it," former Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage and
former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, R
Nicholas Burns said.
Besides the two former US officials, Senior Fellow at the
Center for a New American Security, Richard Fontaine also
contributed to the 16-page report titled 'Natural Allies: A
Blueprint for the Future of US-India Relations.'
"In light of US aspirations for the US-India strategic
partnership – the United States should commit, publicly and
explicitly, to work with India in support of its permanent
membership in an enlarged UN Security Council," they said.
The report has been endorsed by more than 20 American and
Indian experts including former US Ambassador to India Frank
Wisner, former Bush Administration officials Karan Bhatia and
Susan C Schwab and former Assistant Secretary of State for
South Asian Affairs Karl F Inderfurth.
It also recommended that the US give concrete meaning to
the phrase "strategic partnership" by deepening relations and
strengthening collaboration in a number of areas, including
countering terrorism and violent extremism, bolstering the
international nonproliferation regime and fostering greater
stability, security and economic prosperity in South Asia.
"The United States should remove Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO) subsidiaries from the US Entity List and
consider removing other organizations from the list as the
Indian government draws clearer lines between its civil space
and civil nuclear activities on the one hand, and its
ballistic missile and nuclear weapons activities on the other.
Such distinctions would clarify and ease licensing policy for
Indian acquisition of more sophisticated defense items and
technology," the report said.
The US Department of Commerce's Entity List contains a
list of foreign end users which might have proliferation
concerns. The list is aimed at assisting exporters in
determining whether an entity poses proliferation concerns.
The US should designate an appropriate senior official at
the cabinet level to coordinate export-control issues related
to India and take the lead in resolving overlapping regulatory
and policy issues, they said.
"The United States should also cease calling for India to
join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a non-
nuclear state, as it has for many years. Rather, the United
States should encourage India to fully conform its laws,
policies and practices to those of NPT members, irrespective
of its non-member status," it said. PTI LKJ