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Possible Pak N-test leaves government unfazed

Rajesh Ramachandran in New Delhi

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government seems strangely unfazed by the news of intense activity in the Chagai Hills region of Baluchistan, Pakistan, signalling the possibility of an imminent nuclear test by the neighbouring nation.

"Why should I react?" said Pramod Mahajan, the prime minister's political advisor, when asked to comment about the possibility that a Pakistan nuclear test was imminent. "These are all matters of security concern. We had our own security perception, they too might have theirs."

The blase attitude permeates to the defence ministry as well -- a sort of test and let test mindset typifying the mood of the moment.

"Our attitude towards Pakistan testing a nuclear device is unlike the West's attitude towards us," said Commodore C Uday Bhaskar, deputy director of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis. "We don't question anyone's right to conduct a test. We will deal with the situation at a much higher level, taking the Cold War negotiations between the Soviet bloc and NATO as our model."

Meanwhile, Congress leaders in Parliament Sharad Pawar and Dr Manmohan Singh met Prime Minister Vajpayee to ask for a briefing on the political, economic and scientific fallout of the nuclear tests.

The PM is understood to have promised a comprehensive briefing, at the "appropriate time."

Congress president Sonia Gandhi called on Vajpayee yesterday, but an official spokesman indicated that the nuclear tests did not come up for discussion.

During the meeting with Pawar and Singh, Vajpayee invited the leaders to discuss the five bills which are scheduled to come up for parliamentary endorsement in the upcoming Budget session.

Though the Opposition has not given any assurance thus far, Mahajan felt that at least the women's reservation bill and the Lok Pal bill would have a smooth passage, considering they figure in the Congress manifesto as well.

Bills concerning electoral reforms, the power ordinance and Prasar Bharti are the others slated to come up for endorsement.

Meanwhile, the government officially expressed its happiness at the stock market recovering to pre-nuclear test levels, but failed to react to the rupee's fall in value against the US dollar.

"The RBI is monitoring the situation," is the stock response.

The BJP leadership, meanwhile, indicated that it was unworried about impending sanctions, including moves made in that direction by the American Export Import bank. "It will not harm India. On the contrary, it is going to harm American exporters and the business establishment. And this is all the more reason for them to lobby against the sanctions and get them removed at the earliest," says a senior BJP leader.

Dr Jagdish Shettigar, the BJP's economic cell convener, felt that the Exim bank's sanction would only help the party achieve its swadeshi objective.

"The American Exim bank is similar to our ECGC, the Export Cover Guarantee Organisation," Dr Shettigar explained. "It gives cover as well as credit, like giving insurance and payment cover. The intention is to help someone to be in business even when the payment is not made, or the risk is enormous. And if such an institution withdraws help, it is the US exporters, and not us, who will be harmed."

For its part, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh seems to think that President Clinton's reaction is just what the doctor ordered. "The balance of payments would get reduced if major imports from the US stop," says a top RSS official. "After all, we are not importing essential goods like crude oil and food from the US. And in a way, it would be beneficial to Indian industry as well."

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