• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Title:  "South Asian Scholars Discuss Non-Proliferation Issues." Scholars from Pakistan and India, including Dr C Raja Mohan and Dr Perez Hoodbhoy, say that one of the most serious challenges facing their countries is that of safely managing their respective nuclear capabilities. (930730)

Author:  GOMEZ, BERTA (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date:  19930730

Text:
*NEA507

07/30/93 *

SOUTH ASIAN SCHOLARS DISCUSS NON-PROLIFERATION ISSUES (Mohan, Hoodbhoy address journalists in Washington) (740) By Berta Gomez USIA Staff Writer Washington -- Scholars from Pakistan and India told journalists here that one of the most serious challenges facing their countries is that of safely managing their respective nuclear capabilities.

"The problem is no longer: How do you make South Asia nuclear-free? The problem is: How do you make a nuclear South Asia free from war and conflict?" said Dr. C. Raja Mohan, a research associate at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi and a fellow at the U.S. Institute for Peace.

Although he endorsed the idea of confidence-building measures between India and Pakistan, Dr. Perez Hoodbhoy, a professor at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad who is currently doing scientific research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, expressed far deeper concern over the "rate of nuclear development in the subcontinent."

In particular, Hoodbhoy worried that a conventional Indo-Pakistani confrontation might turn nuclear. "Even without a war, I believe that there could arise a state of tension -- a provocation, followed by a response, followed by another provocation and so on -- which could escalate beyond control and perhaps come to a point where one country feels a pre-emptive strike on the other's nuclear capabilities is essential," he said.

He suggested that the relationship between India and Pakistan is more explosive than that which existed between the United States and the Soviet Union. Those two countries avoided a confrontation for decades, "But when the borders are contiguous, I believe the situation can be very different," Hoodbhoy said.

The two South Asian scholars made their comments during a July 29 press briefing sponsored by the Non-Proliferation Breakfast Group.

A State Department official who also addressed the gathering noted that the Clinton administration is in the process of developing an "omnibus non-proliferation policy" that deals with nuclear issues on a global level, as well as within various regional contexts.

"What we are arguing is that the development of a web of particular agreements and approaches -- be it on a global level, be it on a regional level, be it bilaterally or unilaterally -- can all serve to work towards moving our non-proliferation agenda forward while enhancing the national security of the countries and the regions concerned," said the U.S. official.

For his part, Mohan said that the ideas reportedly being considered by the Clinton administration seem promising. He was particularly interested in the possibility of a global test ban, or a world-wide cutoff in the production of fissionable materials. India, Pakistan and China would be strong advocates of moves in that direction, he predicted. "(They) can at least set the ball rolling in...getting India and Pakistan on board some kind of arms control process."

"In a sense, what I am arguing for is accepting or implementing the development of a stable minimum deterrence between India and Pakistan, and trying to develop those mechanisms which can make both countries accept confidence-building measures," Mohan said.

Taking issue with that point, the State Department official noted: "I do not believe that it is possible to simply construct a minimal deterrence regime that is stable in South Asia and that doesn't continue to evolve forward." Research and development "continue apace" in both countries, the official added.

Despite what he described as India's unwillingness to seriously engage Pakistan on the non-proliferation issue, Hoodbhoy suggested that Islamabad take unilateral steps down the arms control path. He urged Pakistan to announce that it will freeze production of highly enriched uranium for a fixed period of time; that it won't explode a nuclear device for another designated period of time; and that all its nuclear exports will be subject to IAEA controls.

Hoodbhoy said he welcomed non-proliferation efforts on the part of the international community, but was highly critical of U.S. nuclear policies. In addition to being "openly discriminatory," they fail to account for the realities that drove countries like Pakistan to seek a nuclear capability, he said.

Rather than employ "punitive" measures, foreign intermediaries should use "powerful diplomacy which offers inducements to both Pakistan and India to curb proliferation," Hoodbhoy said. He added that at the "fundamental level," resolution of the problem will necessitate an Indo-Pakistani compromise over Kashmir.

NNNN