Articles

Indian policy and strategic establishment is exhibiting little or no concern about growing Pakistani nuclear arsenal, this is despite the fact that Pakistan is touted to have more nuclear weapons than UK and has emerged as the fifth largest nuclear weapon state behind, USA, Russia, China and France.

The June meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has legitimized the supply of two additional nuclear reactors to Pakistan by China in violation of its own NSG commitments. This is a blow to our security interests. China presented the NSG with a frontal challenge, and the NSG has buckled.

The international community, as a whole, has never really moved in any purposive and concerted fashion to achieve the objective of a nuclear weapon free world. While there have been many calls for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, progress has been limited as the five nuclear weapon states, recognized as such by the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), have, generally, not been serious about a world free of nuclear weapons.

The Civil Nuclear Liability Bill passed by Parliament needs a dispassionate appraisal as controversy has surrounded it. Its passage has not been greeted with any particular enthusiasm, as the government did not get exactly what it wanted and the opposition had no reason left to object because its amendments were acccepted. Criticism of the bill, on the other hand, has been loud - from the business lobbies and some analysts who bemoan it for ending India’s prospects of becoming a major producer of nuclear power.

The issues involved in China’s sale of two more nuclear reactors need to be better understood. Arguments that India, as a non-NPT state, has itself secured a nuclear deal with the US and therefore has little ground to oppose a China-Pakistan nuclear deal, or that two additional reactors for Pakistan is not going to enhance the nuclear threat to India, miss the point.

The Iranian nuclear issue is not any the closer to a denouement with UN Security Council Resolution 1929 of June 9 slapping additional sanctions on Iran, dismissed promptly as inconsequential by its President. The announced sanctions target Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes, as well as entities, banks and individuals involved in these programmes, besides banning certain categories of military supplies. The energy sector has been excluded, but the US may unilaterally impose some additional restrictions in this area.

Shyam Saran

Shyam Saran, former Special Envoy of the Prime Minister on India-US Nuclear Issues and Climate Change and former Foreign Secretary, says that there is “anecdotal evidence” that major glaciers have been receding. There is no precise data as to whether the Himalayan glaciers are melting and, if so, at what rate. He says satellite imaging over the last several decades show noticeable shrinking of glaciers in some areas, but little change in others.

The India-US nuclear deal will stunt India's emergence as a genuine nuclear weapon state, cripple its strategic deterrence, and reduce it to a US satrapy. Government's motivations in pushing ahead with it are, therefore, open to speculation, particularly as informed opinion is against it.