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Lift sanctions against India: US legislators

United States Republican Senator Sam Brownback and Congressman Gary Ackerman, backed by several colleagues, have called for lifting of remaining sanctions against India immediately or at least before Prime Minister A B Vajpayee's visit in September.

Brownback said the delay, despite the authority his legislation had given the Clinton administration to lift them, was outrageous when it was trying to lift sanctions against North Korea, which is aiding "rogue" states and China is engaged in repression and proliferation.

"The contrast here," he said, "is outrageous, just outrageous."

Ackerman stressed that the lifting of sanctions was "long overdue". Indo-American relations, he said, should not be held hostage to one single issue, namely "our obsessive focus on getting New Delhi's signature on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)''.

The CTBT, he said, was very important, but it should not be the only issue that determines the future of relations.

They were speaking on the occasion of the 2000 summer meeting of the Indian American Forum for Political Education in cooperation with the U S-India business council. At least 50 senators and congressmen participated in the function.

Ackerman also pointed out that it is "somewhere between irony and hypocrisy" for the U S to press India to sign the CTBT when the country itself has not ratified the treaty. "If we go down this road," he warned, "we will be missing many opportunities in the US-India relationship."

India, he said, was a confident and vibrant democracy. ''She is trying to build a national consensus on the CTBT issue, but the continuation of the sanctions regime against India even after the successful Indian visit of President Bill Clinton only adds to the problem.''

Brownback said, amid cheers, that if Clinton was not prepared to lift the remaining sanctions against India, "it will occur under the Bush administration".

Paul Wolfowitz, dean of the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and an adviser to Texas Governor George Bush, presumptive Republican candidate for president, said that excessive importance is being attached to nuclear testing instead of focusing on stability in the Indo-Pakistani relationship.

Republican Congressman Ed Royce said now was the time for the US to make up for lost time in its relations with India.

T P Sreenivasan, deputy chief of the Indian mission, welcomed Brownback's efforts to see that the remaining sanctions are lifted. Swadesh Chatterjee, president of the forum, also underlined the importance of fighting cross-border terrorism.

PTI

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