Thursday, 9 August, 2007

by Sandra O'Malley
The Herald Sun

LABOR has warned that selling uranium to India could deal a blow to the West's fight against terrorism.

It is concerned it could exacerbate tensions on the subcontinent and discourage Pakistan from helping the West in its fight against militants such as al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The Federal Government is considering selling uranium to India but Labor remains steadfast it will not sell yellowcake to any country that is not a member of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

Cabinet will soon consider a proposal which would see Australia able to sell uranium to India even though it hasn't signed up to the treaty.

India, a nuclear weapons power, will not sign the NPT because it only recognises the sale of nuclear fuel and technology to five countries which possess atomic weapons - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia.

The Government is rethinking its position on India because of a deal the populous nation struck with the US allowing international inspections of its civilian nuclear reactors.

Labor maintains it has no intention of changing its policy, and warns to do so could have implications for the West's relationship with Pakistan.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland reiterated that a Labor government would not sell uranium to a non NPT country, describing it as "foolhardy'' to do otherwise.

"That's not to say we don't think the NPT should be revised to look at the situation of India in particular,'' he said.

"But to sell it to a country that is not part of the NPT would undermine the legitimacy of the NPT which would be extremely counterproductive.

''(And) selling it to India when they are not part of the NPT would simply result in Pakistan saying
'look, you're discriminating against us'. And there's no possible way we could contemplate selling uranium to Pakistan.''

In these circumstances, Mr McClelland fears it could complicate efforts by the West to encourage Pakistan to do more to combat al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Already there is growing concern that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is failing to take strong enough action against al-Qaeda cells in hostile tribal regions on the Afghan border.

"The fact that we would be perceived as discriminating against Pakistan may well result in a disinclination on their part to take action (in) circumstances where Pakistan's support is needed if we're going to stop the Taliban crossing into Afghanistan,'' Mr McClelland said.

Even if the Howard Government changes its policy within weeks, if Labor won the election it would not authorise export licences for the sale of uranium to a country not signed up to the NPT.

But the proximity of the election means even if Cabinet were to immediately make a decision to change its policy, there would no chance it could flow through into a sale deal before the poll.