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The merits of the proposed Indo-US nuclear deal are open to debate. We are missing the woods for the trees.
From day one India was against the use of nuclear energy except for peaceful purposes. It therefore developed nuclear technology but opposed the acquisition of nuclear weapons. This was the official policy articulated up to the time of Indira Gandhi.
Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister upped the ante. He committed India to global nuclear disarmament. He campaigned for it. But India never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which it considered unequal. Rajiv Gandhi’s approach reflected a broad national consensus.
However, developments in China and Pakistan, and the permissive attitude of the West towards them, compelled India to become a nuclear-weapons state. For national security, India was compelled to acquire a nuclear deterrent. This decision too reflected a national consensus.
India’s nuclear technological progress and its responsible conduct regarding nuclear proliferation earned it grudging respect from the West. Eventually, America offered India a nuclear deal to promote the use of peaceful nuclear energy. Now glitches have developed to impede that deal. What are they?
The main hurdle involves India’s right to conduct further nuclear tests. India’s nuclear scientists say that a ban on future testing could harm progress in nuclear weapons technology. They are right. But existing US law inhibits the Bush administration from allowing further nuclear testing. Critics have gone to town quoting our nuclear scientists to assert that the N-deal is a sellout.
What they don’t ask is whether we need progress in nuclear weapons technology. Our security aim was to acquire a deterrent. We have got that. To make it more effective, we need more powerful missiles. We don’t need bigger and better bombs. The N-deal does not affect our missile technology. If, for argument’s sake, events do compel India to have another nuclear test the nation could go ahead and terminate the N-deal. It would be a political judgement unconcerned with nuclear scientists. And if India’s decision appeared justified to America, it could alter its existing law.
India must never lose sight of its main goal—to achieve global nuclear disarmament. It should formulate a plan and persuade Asian nuclear powers—China, Pakistan, North Korea, Iran and Israel—to promote it. Otherwise, the world must be prepared to face a terrorist nuclear strike somewhere, sometime. It will become inevitable.
(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)