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'India risks international isolation'

Maleeha Lodhi

Monday's explosions are a huge setback to the peace process. They are an absolute setback to the promotion of nuclear non-proliferation in the region. With India moving inexorably towards weaponisation, we have crossed the nuclear threshold in the region.

India has taken a huge risk today. India risks international isolation by what it has done. Politics and its long standing nuclear ambitions have led to these explosions. Politics because as a coalition government it could not do much domestically, but there is consensus about the nuclear option in India.

Pakistan's perspective is that as early as late 1995 India began preparations for a nuclear test at Pokharan. These were never reversed. So it is not the BJP alone, but there has been continuity in India's nuclear preparations. Three years ago, we began to see preparations which were never reversed. After all, you cannot prepare overnight for a nuclear test like the one which India conducted today. These need elaborate preparations.

We are now entering a region not marked by nuclear ambiguity or nuclear ambivalence. The prospect of an actual nuclear arsenal being deployed is very real. We have seen how when India has taken the first step, Pakistan has felt compelled to respond.

Pakistan naturally views these explosions as a threat to its security and will take counter measures to protect itself. But where does it take the region? Nuclear ambitions helped keep the peace. But the veil has come off now. The deterrents that prevailed have been blasted by India's action today.

Pakistan's response will be determined by the international community's response in the days to come and we hope it will be action, not words. The coming days will be a test of Pakistani diplomacy. As I said before, India risks international isolation.

If Pakistan acts smartly, international censure can be directed at India. The international community is going to be on test. Will commerce -- the prospect of doing business with India -- overcome its principles and its advocacy of non-proliferation? After all, the US which entered Iraq and did what it did cannot take a different position with India.

Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States and an editor of some distinction, spoke to Rediff On The NeT from her home in Rawalpindi.

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