Blackwill (L) and Sibal (R) exchange agreements to prevent the extradition of Indian and American nationals

NEW DELHI, December 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – India and the United States signed a pact Thursday, December 26, under which they agreed not to send each other's nationals to a world tribunal, in a victory for Washington's efforts to scuttle the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The U.S.-India agreement states there will be "non-extradition of nationals of either country to any international tribunal without the other country's express consent," according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

It was signed by Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, the top bureaucrat in the foreign ministry, and the U.S. ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill.

"India and the United States share the strongest possible commitment to bringing to justice those who commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide," Blackwill told reporters after the signing.

"However, we are concerned about the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty with respect to the adequacy of checks and balances, the impact of the treaty on national sovereignty and the potential for conflict with the U.N. Charter," he said, quoted by AFP.

Washington has demanded blanket immunity from the tribunal's jurisdiction for U.S. peacekeepers, on the grounds that they might be liable to politically motivated prosecution, the British daily newspaper, The Independent reported July 2.

"They're afraid it is going to become a Pandora's Box and that the United States, which has more than 200,000 troops overseas involved in peacekeeping and warfighting ... is going to be second-guessed in the ICC," said Gary Dempsey, an expert at the Cato Institute.

The daily criticized the inability of the U.S. accepting a minimal risk which is of no bother to Britain, France and Germany (among 139 countries who have signed the treaty), who play a scarcely less important role in international peacekeeping operations, and have welcomed the ICC.

U.S. President George W. Bush's administration strongly opposes the ICC, saying the tribunal could bring politically motivated charges against Americans, including civilian military contractors and former officials. This fierce opposition to the court shows a certain sense of vulnerability on the part of Bush administration, said Esther Brimmer of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Transatlantic Studies.

The Indian government has not publicly discussed its agreement with the United States, announcing it only in a brief foreign ministry statement, said AFP.

An official source quoted by the Hindustan Times newspaper said New Delhi was concerned that a multinational court would "impinge on national sovereignty."

India has become angered by attempts to bring its flagrant human rights abuses in Kashmir to global foray.

The Rome statute setting up the ICC was signed by U.S. president Bill Clinton, but he urged his successor not to ratify participation in the court until Washington resolved its concerns.

India has neither signed nor ratified the ICC.

Nonetheless, a total of 139 countries have signed the Rome statute and 87 have ratified it, according to non-governmental organizations.

The ICC officially opened in The Hague in July 2002. Eighteen judges are expected to be elected to the world's first permanent international court in February 2003.

The court theoretically has universal jurisdiction, but can only prosecute if the state where the crimes were committed or the state of the nationality of the accused are party to the statute.

Faced with the creation of the ICC, the United States has instead been trying to reach bilateral agreements under which countries will pledge not to extradite any U.S. nationals to an international court.

John Bolton, the U.S. under secretary of state for arms control and international security, said November 14 that Washington was focusing its efforts on non-extradition with countries in South Asia and the Middle East.

But U.S. officials have been quiet about which specific countries were being targeted for immunity deals to avoid pressure being placed on the governments in question.

The United States have signed such deals with at least 14 other countries, but India is significant as most of the others are small or closely identified as U.S. allies.

The agreement Thursday is a further sign of the warming relations between the United States and India, which tilted toward the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

India immediately joined the U.S.-led "coalition against terrorism" and in May held their first joint military exercises in nearly four decades.