Statement by Former PM Vajpayee on US-Indo Agreement

[Guest guest]

Statement by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

On the Joint Statement signed by PM Manmohan Singh and President Bush

 

 

The understanding arrived at between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

and President Bush regarding nuclear technology as reflected in the

Joint India-US Statement of July 18, 2005 has already caused concern,

even consternation among nuclear scientists and defence analysts. The

Bhartiya Janata Party shares these concerns and fears.

 

The first and the foremost is India's offer to identify and separate

its civilian and military nuclear facilities and programmes. This

offer has long-term national security implications. The military

programmes are a small fraction of our nuclear facilities. We believe

that separating the civilian from the military would be very

difficult, if not impossible. The costs involved will also be

prohibitive. It will also deny us any flexibility in determining the

size of our nuclear deterrent. Though we believe in minimum credible

deterrent, the size of the deterrent must be determined from time to

time on the basis of our own threat perception. This is a judgement,

which cannot be surrendered to anyone else. By effecting a separation

between civilian and military facilities, we have also accepted a

crucial provision of a future fissile material cut-off treaty even

before such an international treaty has been fully negotiated and put

into force by other nuclear weapon states.

 

The offer to sign and adhere to an Additional Protocol with respect

to civilian nuclear facilities is also fraught with dangers. Such an

Additional Protocol will, by its very nature, be more intrusive since

it will have to allow international inspectors free access to our

nuclear facilities anywhere anytime.

 

Indian nuclear scientists have been allowed all these years to freely

carry out research activities without anyone breathing down their

necks. Under the new arrangement this will change and put

restrictions even on our research programmes. Of special interest to

us is the thorium research programme which would give us freedom from

nuclear fuel imports and make us self-reliant in nuclear fuel. What

happens to that programme? The Government of India owes an

explanation on this count.

 

There are other issues on which the US commitment could have been

more forthright like the International Thermo-nuclear Experimental

Reactor (ITER) and the Generation IV International Forum. In fact, it

is difficult to resist the feeling that while India has made long-

term and specific commitments in the Joint Statement, the US has

merely made promises, which it may not be able to see through either

the US Congress or its friends in the exclusive nuclear club. The

Bush administration may have recognized India "as a responsible state

with advanced nuclear technology", but it is far from recognizing

India as a legitimate and responsible nuclear weapons state.