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N-device without policy blueprint is adventurism, Swamy tells PM

All India Anna DMK general secretary J Jayalalitha today congratulated the scientists and engineers who successfully carried out three underground nuclear tests at Pokhran yesterday.

In a message, she felicitated the Vajpayee government on the historic achievement.

"It is a matter of national pride that our scientists have proved once again that they are second to none in the world in the sphere of nuclear technology," she added.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who also congratulated the scientists and engineers, said it was a historic achievement for the country.

The Janata Party has welcomed the nuclear tests which it said, were carried out with impressive secrecy.

In a statement, party president Subramanian Swamy said after the initial euphoria settles down, the prime minister should tell the nation how the political leverage thus gained was going to be integrated into the country's global strategic policy.

''Nuclear tests and bomb stockpiles are useless unless we have a strategic doctrine of its use,'' he said.

''As a nation we have never even debated the parameters of such a doctrine, but by these sudden tests we have no choice but to become a global player or sink,'' Dr Swamy said.

"With these tests the prime minister should know that the United States, China, and Pakistan would combine to impose costs on India in terms of sanctions, border pinpricks, and in abetting internal terrorism. So far through diplomacy we have been keeping them on the defensive even if we have failed to befriend any of them," he said.

Dr Swamy said unless the prime minister unravels the broad contours of India's global strategic policy to the nation, the underground tests would mean nothing more than reckless adventurism.

If the prime minister has no such policy blueprint, such adventurism will harm the nation instead of helping it, he warned.

The Congress too sought to know from the BJP-led coalition government, the compelling reasons behind yesterday's nuclear tests at Pokhran, and tell the nation if it was done after an evaluation of the threat perception.

Speaking to newspersons, K Natwar Singh, head of the Congress party's foreign affairs committee, also wanted to know how serious was the threat and from which quarters it came from.

He said the Congress respected the statement of former atomic energy chief Raja Ramanna that the scientific achievements should not be politicised, and wanted the BJP to follow suit.

He said yesterday's successful tests were the culmination of 40 years of sustained hard work and research by the scientists and engineers. This was certainly not a "40-day miracle'', he added.

On the possibility of international sanctions, Natwar Singh, a former diplomat-turned-MP said, "We are expecting the government to answer these questions."

The Communist Party of India-Marxist and the CPI, in a joint statement, suggested that the Vajpayee government adhere to the policies pursued so far on the issue of nuclear disarmament and make efforts to avoid a nuclear arms race in South Asia in order to maintain peace and security in the region.

They said they had always appreciated the contribution of Indian scientists in the development of nuclear research and programmes. "Our country has been consistently adhering to the policy that we wish to harness nuclear development for peaceful purposes. India has firmly refused to sign the NPT and the CTBT which are discriminatory and which will allow a monopoly over nuclear weapons by some countries," they added.

The parties said India had been developing nuclear capabilities without relaxing defence preparedness while advocating universal disarmament, non-use of nuclear weapons and avoiding an arms race in the sub-continent.

Only the BJP had all along been for exercising the nuclear option and had reiterated the same in its election manifesto. However, the decision to go ahead with nuclear tests at this juncture has not been explained or its international and national implications, the statement said.

In Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has welcomed the nuclear tests at Pokhran, and said India was committed to peace, which the nuclear explosion would ensure.

''We are in favour of nuclear power for peace. It was essential for India to demonstrate its defence capabilities,'' the chief minister said. This capability is not to be used against anyone but we have to show the enemies that the nation does not lag behind, he added. ''This should serve as a deterrent to our enemy.''.

Dr Abdullah complimented all scientists engaged in the successful nuclear test on his behalf and on behalf of his government, saying that this has made India proud. He, however, prayed that there would be no situation in which India was forced to use this capability.

Replying to a statement, he said, ''If ever there is a war, our land would be the battlefield.'' He reminded that Jammu and Kashmir has faced three wars in the past and today a situation had been created by Pakistan where even harvesting of crops had become difficult.

Union Minister for Petroleum and Chemicals Surjeet Singh Barnala, while speaking at Indore, said the nuclear tests were conducted not because of any external or internal pressure but to establish India's scientific capabilities.

He was replying to a question at a meet-the-press programme, organised by the Indore Press Club, as to whether the nuclear tests were conducted because of Pakistan's recent test-firing of the Ghauri missile or due to any internal pressure.

Barnala said the tests were meant to send the message that no one should underestimate India's capabilities. He said scientific research and development was a continuous process and such tests were conducted as and when the need arose.

The Union minister denied that such tests would adversely affect country's relations with neighbouring countries, particularly Pakistan, saying India did not react in a provocative manner when Pakistan test-fired its Ghauri missile.

UNI

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