Extensive briefings to members of the U.S. Congress by senior officials in the Bush Administration have so far failed to win bipartisan support for a deal that would permit the United States to share civilian nuclear technology with India.

In an omenous admission of this lack of support, a senior Democratic congressman on Thursday announced a legislative proposal that would keep the deal alive until a consensus can be built. The U.S. Congress must approve changes in American laws before this nuclear cooperation can materialise.

Noting his support for the deal, Congressman Tom Lantos, co-chairman of the House International Relations Committee, conceded that it “does not have the wide and bipartisan backing it needs.”

“With so few legislative days left in this crowded congressional year, there is not enough time to develop the consensus necessary to accomplish all administration’s objectives. We need to come up with a legislative compromise that will keep the momentum for this important agreement moving forward,” he said at the fifth hearing on the nuclear deal in the House International Relations Committee.

Mr Lantos proposed members of Congress should vote on the bilateral agreement only after negotiations are completed and India and the International Atomic Energy Agency have finalised an agreement on safeguards at civilian nuclear facilities.

“The final vote of Congress on the U.S.-India nuclear accord would occur whenever the agreement is completed - whether it’s a week from now, six months or a year,” he said.

Mr Philip Zelikow, a senior State Department official, reacting to Mr Lantos’s suggestion, told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank, “right now our view is to handle this differently.”

Mr Lantos noted that the Indian Government “needs reassurance that the Congress is supportive.”

“It needs the confidence that we will adopt the necessary legislation in order to negotiate the final details of this agreement with the United States,” he said. The proposed legislation would help promote that confidence “while not compromising the oversight role of Congress.”

Once the U.S.-India agreement and International Atomic Energy Agency-India safeguards are submitted to Congress, Mr Lantos’ proposal would provide for “specific, expedited procedures to assure an up or down vote on the agreement in the House and the Senate.”

While Mr Lantos’ legislation would put Congress on record welcoming the nuclear accord and its positive impact on U.S.-India relations, it would not immediately make all major legislative changes to the Atomic Energy Act sought by the Administration and necessary to implement this agreement.

A critic of the deal, Congressman Ed Markey, called the Bush Administration’s legislative proposal on the deal “ill-conceived,” and said it “undermines U.S. national security interests, and that it sets a dangerous precedent that will be exploited by our adversaries and rivals.”

Meanwhile, Congressman Howard Berman of California, member of the India Caucus on Capitol Hill, said he would introduce a Bill that would “preserve the prerogative of Congress to examine the details of a nuclear cooperation agreement and approve it by majority vote before it goes into effect.”

By contrast, under the Bush Administration’s legislative proposal, Mr Berman noted, “Congress could only block even a deeply flawed nuclear cooperation agreement with India by passing a resolution of disapproval by a veto-proof two-thirds majority , an almost impossible hurdle.”

The State Department has taken the lead in advocating for the deal on Capitol Hill. As a consequence, the focus of the debate has been narrow. Congressional analysts and diplomatic sources agree that in order to highlight the other positive aspects of the deal , officials from the Department of Energy and Pentagon should join in this effort. Their participation will shift focus to the benefits to environment, easing of pressure on the world’s dwindling energy supplies, and significance of India as a strategic partner of the U.S. in an important part of the globe.

“The U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative is about giving India a helping hand towards a self-sustaining energy future,” Congressman Jim Kolbe explained.

New Delhi, May 12
India today made it clear that it was for the Bush Administration to ensure the passage of an appropriate legislation in the US Congress to enable civil nuclear cooperation with India.

The reaction of the Ministry of External Affairs came after Congressman Tom Lantos’s controversial remarks yesterday wherein he said India first needed to negotiate with the IAEA and India and the US needed to sign a bilateral agreement before the US Congress takes up the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation accord.

Lagos (Nigeria), May 12
More than a hundred people died today when an oil pipeline blew up in a village near the Nigerian economic capital Lagos, private television channels reported.

“Over one hundred people were burnt to death beyond recognition following the explosion. Our men are on the ground on the scene of the disaster,” Nigerian Red Cross Secretary General Abiodun Orebiyi said on the phone.

TV channels did not show any images of the blast but during the morning, a huge column of black smoke was visible from the centre of Lagos, rising from the vicinity of Apapa port, where numerous oil installations are located.

The authorities were not immediately able to confirm the toll. —AFP

Colombo, May 12
Tamil Tiger rebels today accused Scandinavian truce monitors of siding with the Sri Lankan government, a day after a suicide attack on a navy gunboat killed at least 18 security personnel in one of the bloodiest seabattles, threatening a fragile ceasefire.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) told the Scandinavian Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that they were siding with the Sri Lankan navy.