Agni III testfire stopped due to US Pressure

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http://www.asianage.com/?sam=2:1:235:225452&headline=U.S.~pressure~halts~Agni

 

U.S. pressure halts Agni

- By Seema Mustafa

 

 

 

New Delhi, May 15: United States pressure on India to adhere to

"international norms" to get US Congress approval for the civilian

nuclear energy agreement has worked.

 

Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, on the sidelines of a defence

accountants conference on Monday, admitted for the first time that the

government had stayed the test-firing of the Agni-III missile because

"as responsible members of the international community, we want to

keep our international commitments on non-proliferation." His remarks

clearly indicate, sources said, that the government has abandoned the

programme altogether.

 

Mr Mukherjee told reporters: "We have no pressure on us. Nor are we

putting any political pressure. It is just that we have decided to

have self-imposed restraint." Agni-III has been ready for test-firing

since January, with the chief of the Defence Research and Development

Organisation, Mr M. Natarajan, announcing this with a cautionary:

"When it will be fired, how it will be fired and where it will be

fired is a decision to be taken at a higher level."

 

He repeatedly made it clear that the missile was now ready insofar as

the DRDO was concerned, and that he was optimistic that the political

leadership would give the expected nod. This has not happened, with

the defence minister now finally admitting that the green signal to

test-fire was not given by the government because of its commitment to

non-proliferation.

 

Sources wanted to know why this commitment was not expressed before,

when the UPA government came to power, and why the DRDO was allowed to

move ahead on this long-pending project at considerable cost if this

indeed was the new government's policy. The government's refusal to

move ahead in this crucial area of missile testing, sources said, is

making a "mockery" of India's independent nuclear programme.

 

Significantly, no such limitations have been imposed by the

"international community" on Pakistan, which test-fired its

surface-to-surface Hatf-VI (Shaheen-II) missile from an undisclosed

destination just last month. Prime Minister Shauqat Aziz witnessed

this with Hatf-VI being described as Pakistan's longest-range

ballistic missile system with a 2,500-km range. This is a two-stage

solid fuel missile which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads

with high accuracy. It elicited no adverse response from Washington

or, for that matter, the world community.

 

Mr Natarajan, a day before, had again sought to remind the nation that

Agni-III was ready and that the DRDO had cleared all technical

parameters for the test. Defence scientists have been pointing out

that a decision to abandon the Agni-III programme, which now appears

to be the case, might prevent India from ever acquiring a credible

nuclear deterrent.

 

The Americans have always been uneasy about India's Agni programme,

and in 1994 persuaded it to suspend the testing of the missile afer

three test flights. Agni-III is the third member of the family and has

been developed with a 3,000-km range as against Agni-I, with a 800-900

km range, and Agni-II, with a 2,000 km range. The test-firing of this

missile has been postponed twice, and might have been aborted

altogether. Agni-III was developed as a surface-based, solid and

liquid propellant ballistic missile.

 

The US is keeping a close watch over India's defence and nuclear

programme, as well as its relations with countries like Iran, which is

of interest to Washington. The civilian nuclear energy agreement

signed last July by US President George W. Bush and Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh is delicately poised, and it has been made clear to New

Delhi by key US officials that any controversial decision at this

stage could topple the deal, which has become a prestige issue for

both governments.

 

The government voted for the controversial EU-3 resolution against

Iran at the two crucial meetings of the IAEA board of governors, it

has subsequently submitted and finalised its plans to separate

military and civilian nuclear facilities and reportedly started the

process that will be completed by 2014. It has also started

negotiations with the IAEA for nuclear safeguards, and now it has

capped the Agni-III missile in its search for US Congress approval

that is still showing no signs of a consensus.

 

 

 

 

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Krishna Maheshwari

kmaheshwari (AT) mba2007 (DOT) hbs.edu

kkm9 (AT) cornell (DOT) edu

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Krishna Maheshwari

kmaheshwari (AT) mba2007 (DOT) hbs.edu

kkm9 (AT) cornell (DOT) edu

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