Pranab to Pak on N-p

·         On February 5, 2008 EAM Pranab Mukherjee took potshots at Pakistan for its sins of omission and commission in nuclear proliferation and expressed concern over the dreaded scenario of nuclear weapons falling in the hands of terrorists.

·         With an eye on India needing the support of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for the approval of the Indo-US nuclear deal in near future, Mukherjee stressed that New Delhi strictly abide by all the basic obligations enshrined in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as they apply to nuclear weapon states, even though India was not a NPT signatory country.

·         Mukherjee talked of India’s four-point approach as the best way to address the dilemmas in the nuclear domain and focus efforts on the goal of global nuclear disarmament:

o        A binding commitment by all nations to eliminate nuclear weapons in stages

o        Participation by all states in the process of nuclear disarmament, which does not alone mean arms control

o        Demonstration of good faith and building of confidence through tangible progress towards the common goal of a nuclear weapon free world

o        Changes in doctrines, policies and institutions to sustain a world free of nuclear weapons.

·         “ The obvious reference was to Pakistan’s disgraced nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, who ran a nuclear walmart and surreptitiously sold nuclear weapon designs to North Korea, Libya and even Iran. Khan has since been “pardoned” by President Pervez Musharraf and has not been made available to western agencies for interrogation.

• In contrast, Mukherjee elaborated on India’s responsible and mature conduct in the field of nuclear non-proliferation. “Today, as a responsible nuclear weapon power, we are even more mindful of our duty to control the spread of WMD technologies and their delivery systems. We have signalled our willingness to be a part of the international consensus by adopting a comprehensive WMD export control legislation. We have also harmonised our export control lists with those prescribed by the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Missile Technology Control Regime. These measures also fulfil the obligations prescribed by the UN Security Council Resolution 1540, which calls upon states to refrain from supporting non-state actors in their quest for weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.”