Asia Times: India ready to talk nuclear with Pakistan



	August 25, 1999	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

India ready to talk nuclear with Pakistan
By Ranjit Dev Raj

NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced Friday that India is prepared to discuss its new, aggressive draft nuclear doctrine with Pakistan.

The doctrine, unveiled last Tuesday, proposes that any nuclear aggression from another country invites ''unacceptable damage'' in retaliation from India, which will have survivability and second-strike capability through a triad of delivery systems based on land, sea and air.

Although India's National Security Advisor and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Brajesh Mishra, took care to say that the doctrine was not aimed at any country, it predictably drew sharp reactions from Islamabad.

On Thursday, Pakistan announced it would operationalize its nuclear weapons if India planned to follow through with its plan to do so. India's plan to go operational was included in the draft nuclear doctrine brought out by the nationalistic Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government.

''Pakistan does not want a nuclear arms race in South Asia . . . however, Pakistan cannot afford to ignore the security implications of India's new doctrine and its ambitious plan of nuclear weapons development including thermonuclear and neutron bombs,'' Foreign Minister Shamshad Ahmed said at a press conference in Islamabad.

The new nuclear doctrine also drew unfavorable commentary from the United States and the G-6 nations, which have resolved not to ease up on funding sanctions imposed on India after nuclear weapon testing in May last year, two months after the installation of the BJP government. Pakistan, which responded to India's May tests within days with a rivalling series of tests, was also subjected to similar sanctions that have crippled its heavily aid-dependent economy.

Perhaps stung by the international criticism, Vajpayee chose a press conference in Chandigarh, the capital of western Punjab state which borders Pakistan, to announce readiness to open dialogue with Pakistan on the new doctrine.

Talks with Pakistan had broken down after a fierce 10-week long undeclared war in the Kargil region of Kashmir. The fighting saw liberal use of heavy artillery, the downing of aircraft and some 2,000 dead. India has since taken the position that talks with Pakistan are futile until that country stopped ''exporting Islamic terrorism'' to disputed Kashmir.

Vajpayee did not say at the press conference that India was prepared to discuss anything except the nuclear doctrine with Pakistan. Islamabad has repeatedly demanded that the two countries hold bilateral talks on Kashmir. ''We are ready to talk with Pakistan on all issues but with pride and self-confidence and not in an environment of fear,'' he was quoted by the United News of India (UNI) news agency as saying at a mammoth election rally in Punjab's Fatehabad town later in the day.

Vajpayee referred to his symbolic bus ride from Punjab to the Pakistan city of Lahore in February where he announced that India was ready to open dialogue with Pakistan on all issues including Kashmir. ''We had gone to Lahore with the message of peace. But Pakistan betrayed our trust. We do not want to be mistaken twice,'' he said.

Vajpayee has been under criticism from the Congress and other opposition parties for undertaking the bus ride to Lahore in spite of being warned of a military build-up by Pakistan in Kargil. As early as August last year, the government was informed by the brigade commander at Kargil of ''enhanced threat perception'', said Congress party spokesman Kapil Sibal.

Citing army documents, Sibal said requests for satellite imagery, remote-piloted vehicles, aerial photographs, helicopter reconnaissance and air surveillance were agreed to by authorities but never implemented. Opposition leaders have publicly charged Vajpayee with being too anxious to pull off a diplomatic coup in Lahore to heed warnings by the brigade commander.

The BJP, which came to power in March of last year, proudly considers ''the bomb, the bus and the budget'' as its main achievements during its 13 month rule which ended in April when it failed to win a motion of confidence in parliament.

After opposition groups led by the Congress party failed to form an alternate government, the BJP-led coalition under Vajpayee was, following convention, asked by the president to continue as a caretaker government until elections could be called for a new government. But hostilities with Pakistan broke out in May, which allowed the caretaker government to whip up nationalistic frenzy and turn Kargil into an emotive issue for the elections, which are to be held in September and October.

Kargil, far from being the result of a major intelligence failure, is being projected as a military and diplomatic victory over Pakistan by the Vajpayee government, to the displeasure of the Election Commission. The commission, while acknowledging that Kargil is ''perhaps the major issue in political debate'' for the election campaign, has warned candidates not to ''comment and criticize'' the Kargil conflict. On Thursday, the commission forbade the government from telecasting a documentary on the Kargil conflict until completion of the final phase of the election on October 3.

The Congress party and its allies see the announcement of the nuclear doctrine as an attempt to ratchet up nationalistic feelings evident after the nuclear tests in May and during the Kargil conflict. Congress party leader Pranab Mukherjee has criticized the ''enunication'' of the nuclear doctrine at a press conference rather than in parliament, which, according to him, was the proper forum for releasing a document for ''discussion and debate''.

In response to the internal and international criticism, Vajpayee declared Friday that the nuclear doctrine was only a ''draft meant for public discussion and not a final document. No other conclusion should be drawn from this doctrine''.

(Inter Press Service)

asian sex gazette