Zardari, who had been widely expected to win, had secured 458 out of 702 electoral college votes, according to initial Election Commission results.
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"India's obligations under the 123 agreement are very clear and the Indians have agreed to a moratorium on testing. And we expect they will adhere to that commitment," says State Department spokesman Robert Wood
The nuclear testing clause has emerged as the most contentious clause in the Indo-US deal
A text of the revised draft, now made public, reveals that some minor adjustments have been made but that the significant body of the text still stands
India will press for "clean exemption" from the NSG's existing guidelines that prevent nuclear commerce with countries which have not signed the NPT
"We demand that the UPA government has no business to remain in office and it should resign immediately. If they fail to do so, we want Parliament to be called immediately, perhaps in a week's time so that the privilege motion can be moved against the government," said BJP leader Yashwant Singh
A copy of the revised US proposal to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to exempt India from its nuclear trade restrictions, obtained by the ACA, showed it had made only a couple of cosmetic changes, said Kimball, who has been at the forefront of opposition to the deal in the US
New Delhi refused to be drawn into a controversy over its agreement on civil nuclear cooperation with the US after the secret Bush document was revealed
A 26-page document released by a well-known opponent of the deal, Howard Berman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, contains an assertion by the Bush Administration that its assurances of nuclear supplies to India are not meant to insulate it against the consequences of a nuclear test
The Chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard Berman has released the State Department's answers to 45 questions on the deal which indicate clearly differing perceptions on key issues between New Delhi and Washington
State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack says the US believed the deal is in the interests of global non-proliferation efforts and something that is worthy of NSG support.
The Executive Director of the Arms Control Association has argued that "the revised proposal does not incorporate any meaningful adjustments or concessions"
Austria, which is hosting the meeting scheduled for September 4 and 5, and New Zealand, another vocal opponent of nuclear proliferation, are still unhappy with the revised draft for the India-specific waiver prepared by the US in consultation with India
"We have made the red lines clear ... We might have to back out if the NSG countries do not agree," M.R. Srinivasan, member of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) said
Officially the Chinese government has not yet made any comments on either the NSG meeting that would decide whether a "clean waiver" should be given to India or on the nuclear deal. A section of the media however reported on Monday, "the US-India nuclear agreement is a major blow to the international non-proliferation regime"
"Whether motivated by geopolitical considerations or commercial interests, the US-India nuclear agreement is a major blow to the international non-proliferation regime," said the commentary by Fan Jishe, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a leading state think tank
National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan has made it clear that inclusion of any clause on testing, periodic review or denial of enrichment and reprocessing technology in the text of the NSG waiver would be unacceptable and hoped a way around these issues would be found through diplomatic efforts
The new draft seeks to address concerns of at least 15 countries about India being given license to trade in nuclear materials even as it has refused to sign the Non-proliferation treaty (NTP)
"... As ACA had predicted, but to the apparent surprise of the Indian and US governments, more than 20 states essentially said 'no thanks' and proposed more than 50 amendments and modifications that would establish some basic, but vitally important restrictions and conditions on nuclear trade with India," Daryl Kimball, the Executive Director of the Arms Control Association, said in an e-mail statement
In the draft, the US is believed to have attempted to strike a balance between addressing the concerns of the sceptic nations and ensuring that it is free of conditionalities
"There are no plans that I know of to change the agreement. But you know, in life you never rule things out," State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters Tuesday.
The Atomic Energy Commission chief says the mutual cooperation will be carried out on the basis of the July 18, 2005 agreement between India and US
The spokesman said the Bush administration was well aware that the Congressional clock was ticking and was working very hard to address the concerns of NSG to see the "critically important" deal through at the earliest
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