Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday revealed in the Lok Sabha that the inking of the joint statement between him and United States President George Bush was delayed by 12 to 15 hours as he refused to sign it without the approval of the Atomic Energy Commission chairman.
Dr Singh said this while replying to a special discussion on his US visit in the backdrop of criticism from the Opposition as well as the Left that the country's autonomy in the management of its nuclear assets had been compromised.
The AEC chairman, the prime minister said, was part of his delegation to the US and 'I took the view that I will not sign until I had the approval of the chairman of the AEC. The signing of the joint statement was held up for about 12-15 hours.'
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Stating that 'what we have done is in the best interest of the country,' Dr Singh said separation of the civilian and military nuclear installations was feasible and 'our nuclear establishment agrees with that line.'
'On my return too, I consulted various nuclear scientists and am convinced that it can be done and it was voluntary without any imposition from outside on identifying the installations as civilian or military,' the prime minister said.
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