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India rejects US suggestion to define credible minimum nuclear deterrent

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, April 9, IRNA
India-US-Nuclear
India today rejected the US suggestion that it define its credible minimum nuclear deterrent, asserting that it has 'no responsibility' to 'declare' it.

"What our credible minimum deterrent would be is really for India to decide," said Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran in an interview with a private Indian news channel 'New Delhi Television' NDTV) a day after US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher made the suggestion.

"Certainly there is no responsibility on part of India to declare what its minimum deterrent is," Saran said.

Boucher yesterday had said India should 'further define' its minimum credible deterrent' in the nuclear field, contending that it was 'absolutely necessary' for decreasing tensions in Asia.

Saran, who met Boucher Friday, said the US official had not raised this issue with him. "We have a strategic dialogue with the US where we have agreed to exchange views on our respective nuclear doctrines as well as issues like missile defence," he said.

On the Bush Administration's contention that it was pushing India and Pakistan for moratorium on missile tests, he said New Delhi's position was that it would work with Washington in the conference on disarmament in Geneva on a multilateral Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT).

This has been under discussion in Geneva for several years and India has been an active participant in these negotiations, Saran said, adding "We are prepared to take part in those negotiations." He, however, made it clear that the FMCT that India is talking about is a multilateral instrument.

When referred to the concerns expressed by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee over the deal, Saran said there was "a little misunderstanding" on it. "What we have committed to is very apparent in the July 18 (2005) Joint Statement where we have said that India will continue its moratorium on nuclear testing," he said.

"There is nothing legally binding. But it is a fact that there is a US law, which is of long-standing nature, which says that the US will be obliged to stop all cooperation with a country which explodes a nuclear explosive device," he said.

The Foreign Secretary maintained that this has been part of the US law and "has nothing to do with the initiative which is being negotiated with India."Asked how optimistic he was of the nuclear deal going through the US Congress, he said there was across the board support to the "new transformation" taking place in the Indo-US relations and eventually it will find support of all sections of the Congress.

He expressed confidence that the deal will be passed by the Congress.

Asked about the impact if the deal does not go through the Congress, Saran said "given the kind of expectations that have been built up, there will be some disappointed expectations. There will be some sense of lowered expectations which will have an impact on Indo-US relations." He, however, said the "logic" behind the transformation of relations will remain.

The United States had expressed confidence yesterday that the Civil Nuclear deal could come through within a few months but asked India to 'further define' the minimum credible nuclear deterrent as it was absolutely necessary for decreasing tensions in the region.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said the credible minimum deterrent "reflects our response to a dynamic and changing security environment." Sarna said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had herself noted that 'the Indian strategic programme is more a factor of the military and political factors which India confronts'.

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