Waters muddied for India ahead of nuclear security summit

New Delhi: Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh has embarked on a visit to the United States to attend the nuclear security summit which will be attended by leaders from more than 40 countries.
 
During the eight-day visit, Singh will also travel to Brazil to attend the Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) and India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) summits, where the issue of Iran's nuclear programme and impending UN sanctions against it is expected to figure prominently.

In the first leg of the tour, Dr Singh will be in Washington for four days during which he will attend the two-day Nuclear Security Summit on 12-13 April and meet US president Barack Obama and other world leaders.

These will include French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbaev and Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper.

The nuclear summit is intended to focus on dangers posed by clandestine proliferation and illicit trafficking of nuclear material and the possibility of terrorists acquiring atomic material.

In his carefully prepared pre-departure briefings, the government let it be known that Dr Singh expected the summit to focus on nuclear terrorism and proliferation of sensitive nuclear materials and technologies.

"These are legitimate concerns which require firm responses," the prime minister said.