Reopened Bhopal gas verdict shakes India-U.S. ties
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 08 June 2010, 23:08 IST
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Reopened Bhopal gas verdict shakes India-U.S. ties
Washington: The return of the Bhopal tragedy to the headlines is evidently worrying U.S. and hope that the case will not inhibit its growing ties with India or affect the nuclear liability bill currently before the Indian parliament, and that the verdict in the matter brings some closure to the families of the victims of the tragedy, reports Chidanand Rajghatta of Times of India. In uniform reactions to the sentencing of seven Indian employees to two years in prison each more than 25 years after the tragedy caused by the American company, U.S. officials said they did not expect the verdict to open any new inquiry. "On the contrary, we hope that this is going to help to bring closure," Robert Blake, the U.S. state department official overseeing South Asia, said of the tragedy which eventually claimed more than 15,000 lives. When asked if the Bhopal case isn't already inhibiting the Indian parliament from passing the nuclear liability bill, State Department spokesman P.J.Crowley said the Indian parliament will have to make a judgment on the matter, "but this criminal case should have no relation to the liability legislation currently before the parliament." "We just had a strategic dialogue with India. Our countries are closely connected. Our economies are increasingly closely connected. So I certainly would hope that this particular case does not inhibit the continuing expansion of economic, cultural, and political ties between our two countries. We fully expect this will not be the case," Crowley added. Tomm F. Sprick, Director of Union Carbide Information Center, said that Union Carbide and its officials were not part of this case since the charges were divided long ago into a separate case. Furthermore, Union Carbide and its officials are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Indian court since they did not have any involvement in the operation of the plant, which was owned and operated by UCIL.

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