ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Security the provocation for N-tests, says govt

The government says India now had a ''very credible'' nuclear deterrent, but did not specify whether or not a decision had been taken to induct nuclear weapons.

''The people of India now have a very credible nuclear deterrent but I will not comment on whether or not a decision has been taken to induct nuclear weapons,'' Brajesh Mishra, principal secretary to the prime minister, said.

Mishra justified the nuclear tests and said the nuclear environment around India was ''very dangerous''. He also said India did not inform any other country about its intention to carry out nuclear tests.

''These tests have established that India has a proven capability for a weaponised nuclear programme,'' Mishra said.

Answering a question on the fall-out of the tests in the form of economic sanctions, he said, ''We have taken them into consideration. We are hoping that there will be no sanctions.''

The principal secretary also justified the holding of all the three test simultaneously on the same day by saying, ''We did not want to delay the process.''

In response to persistent queries whether India was now a nuclear weapons state and whether a decision to induct nuclear weapons had been taken, Mishra reiterated that India now had a very credible nuclear deterrent but declined to answer the latter part of the query.

He quashed assertions that any prior deal had been struck with the United States or any other government. ''We did not inform any government of our intention to carry out these tests,'' he asserted.

Answering other queries the principal secretary reiterated that India remained committed to a ''truly comprehensive'' arrangement to prevent all underground testing. The second thing India remained committed was to speedy nuclear disarmament.

On Indo-US relations in the wake of the nuclear tests, Mishra said, ''India's relations with the United States will continue to improve. These explosions have been carried out to secure the interests of the people of India and are not against the United States."

Asked what was the urgency or the provocation to carry out the tests, he said, ''Our security. 'We feel the nuclear environment around India is very dangerous and we are trying to take care of it. India faces a major security threat and we have taken care of the very dangerous nuclear environment around India,'' Mishra reiterated, but declined to pin-point the quarter India faced the threat from.

He declined to agree with a questioner that today's nuclear tests were linked with Defence Minister George Fernandes's recent statement against China.

''All I can say is that the defence minister is linked to today's nuclear tests.'' he said, smiling.

The principal secretary said the government had merely carried out the promise contained in the Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto and the national agenda for governance.

Mishra also denied that the government had gone back on its word to exercise the nuclear option only after a strategic defence review was carried out.

He said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had merely said that ''We will do this if necessary.'' The BJP manifesto and the national agenda had not intended to let only the National Security Council take up the nuclear issue.

Asked about Pakistan, Mishra said, ''When the US ambassador Bill Richardson was in Islamabad, Pakistani scientists A Q Khan said Pakistani scientists were waiting for government permission to conduct nuclear tests.''

Answering another query, Mishra said, ''There has been a national consensus on nuclear option and we have exercised this (nuclear) option."

Asked whether it was right for a minority government to take such a plunge, Mishra said ''the BJP-led government enjoys the support of Parliament. It is not a minority government.''

Mishra also declared that India would be prepared to consider being adherent to some of the undertakings in the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Asked whether this would be voluntary on the part of India or it would be a signatory, Mishra said, ''It will depend on negotiations and will be on a reciprocal basis.

''This cannot obviously be done in a vacuum. It will necessarily be an evolutionary process from concept to commitment and would depend on a number of reciprocal activities.''

Mishra also announced that India remained committed to a speedy process of nuclear disarmament leading to total and global elimination of nuclear weapons.

''We will like to reaffirm categorically that we will continue to exercise the most stringent control on the export of sensitive technologies, equipment and commodities, especially those related to weapons of mass destruction,'' he said.

For India, as for others, the prime need is for peaceful cooperation and economic development, he said.

Tell us what you think of this report