NEW DELHI, 8 March 2006 — India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tried to dispel fears about the nuclear deal with the United States during his address to the Parliament yesterday.

He said the civilian nuclear pact with the United States will not limit the scope of the country’s atomic weapons program. The deal opens India’s civilian reactors to international inspections in exchange for civilian nuclear know-how and fuel, but has been criticized by critics on the left and right as a threat to the national security.

Manmohan told skeptical lawmakers “there will no capping of our strategic program” under the deal, and that the reprocessing and enrichment of uranium — key steps in making weapons-grade material — will not be subject to international safeguards. “The minimum deterrent capability” of India’s nuclear weapons is “adequately protected,” he said.

The India-US deal, signed in July, was finalized last week by Manmohan and US President George W. Bush, who spent two days in India. It’s been touted as the cornerstone of the emerging alliance between New Delhi and Washington.

Under the accord, Delhi will split its closely entwined civilian and military nuclear facilities and put 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors under international inspection by 2014.

“The separation plan will not adversely affect our strategic (military) program,” he said, briefing Parliament on the accord’s details.

Uday Bhaskar, analyst at the New Delhi-based Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis, which is partly funded by the Indian military, agreed that the deal would not compromise India’s strategic needs.

“This is adequate in keeping with India’s strategic stance,” he said.

Manmohan added the pact ended years of “troubled relations” between India and the United States, which were on opposite sides of the fence during the Cold War.

At the same time, he added: “Our nuclear policy will continue to be guided by restraint and responsibility.” He said India had decided to place under safeguards all future civilian thermal power reactors and civilian fast breeder reactors and added it would retain the “sole right” to determine which reactors are civilian.

“This means India will not be constrained in any way in building future nuclear facilities, whether civilian or military. The separation plan ensures adequacy of fissile material and other inputs to meet the current and future requirements of our strategic program, based on our assessment of the threat scenario,” he said. — Additional input from agencies.