Tokyo: Seeking support for India's growing energy requirements, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday (Dec 14, 2006) assured Japan, the only nation to have been attacked with atomic weapons, that India remained 'unshakeably' committed to nuclear disarmament at the same time.

In a thinly-veiled reference to the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal, Singh told a joint session of Japan's Parliament (The Diet), "We are seeking Japan's support in helping put in place innovative and forward-looking approaches to the international community" to India's quest for nuclear power to meet its growing energy requirements.

Then, in a significant departure from his prepared text, the Prime Minister went on to add, "At the same time I would like to submit that India's committment to work for nuclear disarmament remains unshakeable."

Given the rare honour of addressing the joint session of the Diet, where some 600 Parliamentarians cheered him ten times during a 25-minute address, the Indian leader was reminded of the Japanese sentiment on nuclear weapons by the Speaker of the House of Representatives Yohei Kono, who said in a welcome address that India and Japan should work together for abolition of nuclear arms.

Singh's assurance on India's committment to nuclear disarmament ahead of his talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tomorrow is bound to evoke a positive reaction in Japan, which had initially voiced reservations on the Indo-US nuclear deal. Tokyo had been strongly critical of India's nuclear tests in 1998.