INDIA had embarked upon nuclear program in August 1974 by carrying out first nuclear test at Pokhran secretly with the help of Canada supplied nuclear fissile material and named it as ‘Smiling Buddha’. The world powers took no notice of this belligerent act thereby encouraging India to continue developing its nuclear program covertly. It impelled ZA Bhutto to lay the foundation of nuclear plant at Kahuta. India next carried out five nuclear tests in May 1998 which forced Pakistan to give a tit for tat response. Obsessed with the idea of making India a bulwark and a counterweight against China, the US has been constantly bolstering the conventional military capacity of India. Indo-US civil nuclear deal was signed to boost India’s nuclear capacity. On the urging of USA, various nuclear suppliers signed the nuclear cooperation agreements with India, on condition of peaceful use of nuclear material. It is a known fact that the material provided by these countries is being used again in weapons for the Indian military expansion doctrine. Today where India stands is because of the US and the waiver it received in the form of civil nuclear deal. The US now wants to give India the membership of NSG to enable India to match China’s nuclear strength. It is bound to instigate nuclear disparity and inclusion without provable and dependable measures, irrevocably extinguishing the international customs of nuclear nonproliferation, instead of strengthening it. Fortified by the civil nuclear deal in 2008 and access to Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and an arms contract worth $15 billion with USA, India is now secretly building a nuclear city at Chalakre in Karnataka State. This project will be the subcontinent’s largest military-run complex of nuclear centrifuges, atomic-research laboratories, and weapons-and aircraft-testing facilities.
Pakistan Observer 22nd Nov 2017 read more »
