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Nuclear capable India and Pak should negotiate peace, says Gujral

Former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral said today that with India having demonstrated its nuclear capability and with clinching evidence of the same capability with Pakistan, ''both the countries can now purposefully negotiate peace.''

With acknowledged nuclear deterrence on both sides, ''the question of war between India and Pakistan is completely out.'' He said that since World War Two, no country had used nuclear weapons, and there was no possibility of a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan.

Pointing out that the Pakistani nuclear weapons programme had been underway since long, he recalled that former Pakistan president, Gen Zia ul Haq, had put two conditions to the United States while agreeing to toe the American policy in Afghanistan after the intervention of the erstwhile USSR in that country.

Gen Zia had sought assurances from the US that it would not object to Pakistan's nuclear programme and that Washington would not insist on democratising the Pakistani polity.

Gujral also said India should sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty only after the world community recognised it as a nuclear weapons state. After having successfully conducted five nuclear tests, India has automatically acquired the status of a nuclear weapons state. Under no circumstance should India dilute this stand if it agrees to sign the CTBT in some form, the former PM said, and dismissed the suggestion that only those countries which conducted nuclear tests before 1968 should be regarded as nuclear weapons states.

About the CTBT, Gujral said India has always regarded that it was neither comprehensive nor non-discriminatory. India should be quickly recognised as a nuclear weapons state and the way paved for making it a signatory to the treaty, otherwise any debate on the treaty would be futile.

Gujral said it would be advantageous to take a timely view in regard to the country's revised position on CTBT and let it be known. He emphasised that this would help the nuclear weapon powers and other major countries to adopt a moderate approach regarding the threatened economic sanctions.

Gujral said he had written to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee that India's ability to clean the air in regard to the CTBT would assist in early normalisation of the entire situation. This would certainly help India to proceed, without adversely affecting its economic development programmes.

About China, Gujral said after the Pokhran tests, the process of normalisation of relations with Beijing has suffered a setback. But, he added, in course of time, when the heat is taken out, both China and India would carry out their dialogue to further normalise their relations.

He said the prime minister should engage in consultations with leaders of major political parties about the nuclear policy. The manifestation of almost full domestic consensus would strengthen his hands in dealing with international aspects of the matter.

UNI

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