From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007

International Seminar on 'Indo-US Nuclear 'Deal' - India, South Asia,NAM and the Global Order' in Mumbai, India, March 10-11
Venue: St. Pius College, Goregaon (E), Mumbai

Dear Friends,

The Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO), headquartered in Cairo, in collaboration with other organisations in India, the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) and Vikas Adhyayan Kendra (VAK) to begin with, are organising a two-day International Seminar on 'Indo-US Nuclear 'Deal' - India, South Asia, NAM and the Global Order' in Mumbai, India on March 10th and 11th, 2007.

The impact of the 'deal' would be multiple.

1. It would accelerate the nuclear arms race in South Asia severely undermining our objectives of a peaceful nuke free South Asian region.

2. It would also act as a serious dampener for the pursuit of renewable and environmentally benign energy like wind power, solar energy and such others.

3. It would also weaken our efforts of making India take a lead role in the struggle for a nuclear weapons free South Asia and the world.

The objectives of the seminar are twofold and closely intertwined. The seminar to be held in Mumbai would try to spread awareness about the harmful effects of the 'Deal' amongst the different sections of Indian public including the opinion-makers anddecision-makers and also have a strong regional impact.

It would also engage with the benefit of the presence of a number of national, regional and international expert-activists an effective strategy to counter and scuttle this nefarious move making use of the NAM resource base as well.

The schedule of the programme is as follows:

March 10 (Saturday)

10 00-11 00: Registration & Inauguration.
11 00-14 00: 1st Plenary: 'Indo-US Nuke Deal: India , Non-Aligned Movement and the Emerging Global Order'.

15 00-18 00: 2nd Plenary: 'Indo-US Nuke Deal: Its Impacts on Global and Regional Nuclear Arms Race'.

March 11 (Sunday)

10 00-13 00: 3rd Plenary: 'Indo-US Nuke Deal: Its Impacts on Global and  Regional Energy Options'.

14 00-18 00: 4th Plenary: Strategy Session and adoption of Resolution.

We invite you to the seminar and would also invite your organization to be a part of the organizers. The local hospitality, for all outside
delegates, would be taken care of by the local host committee.

Regards,

Bombay Urban Industrial League for Development (BUILD)
Centre Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS)
Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP)
Documentation & Research Training Centre (DRTC)
Forum for Justice & Peace (FJP)
Indian Institute for Peace, Disarmament & Environmental Protection
Institute Community Organization & Research (ICOR)
Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD)
Peace Mummbai
People's Media Initiative
Vikas Adhyayan Kendra (VAK)
(The list is growing.)

An Extract from the Concept Note:
Background

On the December 18 last the US President George Bush inked the Henry Hyde Act towards actualizing the much talked of Indo-US Nuke 'Deal', which had been outlined in the Bush-Singh joint statement issued on July 18 2005 at Washington DC and further developed and reiterated on March 2 in the joint statement issued from Delhi.

The 'Deal', however, has still to pass through a number of stages in order to be operative.

To be more specific, India and the US will have to work out an agreement, popularly known as 123 Agreement, on the specifics of the 'cooperation' in terms of respective rights and responsibilities.
 
Promises are being made from the US side that precisely at this stage India's current concerns will be addressed and the legal framework as worked out by the US Congress in the form of the Act will be tricked to the extent necessary.

Be that as it may, India will also have to work out a separate treaty with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) laying down the scopes and terms of inspections of the 'civilian' plants. And then both these agreements will be presented to the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for ratification. On consensual endorsement by the NSG the whole package will again be presented to the US Congress for final approval so as to enable the President to bring it into force.

An Analysis of the 'Deal'
The 'Deal' has essentially three dimensions: thestrategic-political, the nuclear weapons related and the energy dimension.

.......

Summary
The 'Deal' as and when, and if at all, comes through will grievously undermine the current global regime of nuclear non-proliferation and thereby also the prospects of global nuclear disarmament. It is also likely to further aggravate tensions and accelerate arms race in the region. So it's a very serious negative development for global and regional peace and security.It'd also further cement the growing strategic ties between the US and India and thereby would add momentum to the US project for unfettered global dominance. It'd just not only undermine India's position as a founding and leading member of the NAM,it'd also pose a very serious challenge to the NAM and its objectives in terms of radically raised level of US domination on the global scene.

It'd also act as a booster for nuclear energy industry and a considerable dampener for efforts to develop ecologically benign renewable sources of energy - nationally and also globally.

The Speakers:
The confirmed speakers include:
Ms. Hamsa Abd El-Hamid from the International
Secretariat, AAPSO, Cairo.
John Hallam from Australia.
Also Achin Vanaik, Praful Bidwai, M V Ramana, Sandeep
Pandey, Surendra Gadekar from India.
Speakers, and delegates, are expected also from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri
Lanka, Pakistan, Iraq, Bahrain and a few other countries apart from
India.

A press conference will be held on March 12 in the afternoon.

N.B.: Outstation participants may send in their confirmation ASAP to
"Mr. Sushovan Dhar"<vak@bom3.vsnl.net.in> (Phone: 91 22 28898662 /
28822850, Mobile: 9821855593) for arrangement of accommodation.