Sajjad Shaukat
Setting aside the Indian irresponsible record of non-proliferation, defence agreement signed between the US and India on July 20, this year as part of the deal about civil nuclear technology, agreed upon by the two countries in 2008 has raised new alarms on global and regional level.
Now, New Delhi is officially allowed to obtain the US sophisticated arms and nuclear weapons for its armed forces. In February this year, America had pressurised the International Atomic Agency (IAEA) to sign an accord of specific safeguards with India. It permits New Delhi a broad atomic cooperation, while superseding the IAEA regarding transfer of nuclear equipments and technologies. These arrangements also entail enrichment and reprocessing items under the so-called cover of IAEA. In this regard, Washington also contacted the Nuclear Suppliers Group in order to grant a waiver to India for starting civil nuclear trade on larger scale, while the latter has already been getting nuclear material and arms of all kinds from Israel, Russia, and other European countries.
On the other side, US and European high officials including their media make much hue and cry in relation to the safety of Pakistan’s nukes. In this respect, in the recent past, by manipulating Taliban’s advances in Buner, they misperceived that Pakistan could be overtaken by these extremists who could also possess atomic weapons. On April 22, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton clearly remarked that atomic weapons of Pakistan could fall into the hands of terrorists. Recently, although the President Barrack Obama admitted that nuclear assets of Pakistan are safe, yet he clarified that America had all options open. On the other hand, Pakistan’s successful military operations which flushed the Taliban out of Buner, Dir and Swat exposed the real designs of the US and Europe which only distort the image of Islamabad in connection with nuclear proliferation. In this context, while rejecting west’s misperceptions, Pakistan’s military and civil leadership has repeatedly been assuring that nuclear assets of the country are under tight security.
Notably, on September 25, 2008, Obama had pledged that if elected, he would encourage India and Pakistan to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and resolve the Kashmir problem to reduce nuclear dangers in South Asia. But he has deviated from his earlier commitments and by following the unilateral approach of the ex-president Bush, he sent Hillary Clinton to sign the defence pact with New Delhi. Surprisingly other major European countries like France, Germany and UK are also silence on US-India nuclear deal. In fact, they are also encouraging New Delhi in this regard.
Nonetheless, double standards of the western counties indicate that they totally ignore India on the question of nuclear proliferation as their sole aim is to de-nuclearise Pakistan which is the only atomic power in the Islamic World.
As regards the question of nuclear proliferation, India’s past and present record is replete with innumerable events.
In July 1998, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seized eight Kg. of nuclear material from Arun, an engineer in Chennai including two other engineers. It was reported that the uranium was stolen from an atomic research center. The case still remains pending. On November 7, 2000, IAEA revealed that Indian police had seized 57 pounds of uranium and arrested two men for illicit trafficking of radioactive material. IAEA had said that Indian civil nuclear facilities were vulnerable to thefts.
On January 26, 2003, CNN pointed out that Indian company, NEC Engineers Private Ltd. shipped 10 consignments to Iraq, containing highly sensitive equipments entailing titanium vessels and centrifugal pumps. Indian investigators acknowledged that the company falsified customs documents to get its shipments out of India.
In 2004, when the issue of international nuclear black market came to surface, Pakistani nuclear scientist, Dr. A.Q. Khan was only blamed by America and Europe for proliferation activities by neglecting the western nationals and especially those of India. While in February, same year, India’s Ambassador to Libya, Dinkar Srivastava revealed that New Delhi was investigating that retired Indian scientists could possibly be engaged in “high technology programs” for financial gains during employment in the Libyan government.
On June 12, 2004, Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation (BNC), an American company was fined US $ 300,000 for exporting a nuclear component to the Bhaba Atomic Research Center in India.
In December 2005, United States imposed sanctions on two Indian firms for selling missile goods and chemical arms material to Iran in violation of India’s commitment to prevent proliferation. In the same year, Indian scientists, Dr. Surendar and Y. S. R Prasad had been blacklisted by Washington due to their involvement in nuclear theft. In December 2006, a container packed with radioactive material had been stolen from an Indian fortified research atomic facility near Mumbai.
Some weeks ago, death of India’s nuclear scientist, Lokanathan Mahalingam raised new apprehension about Indian proliferation. He was missed from the scenario and after a couple of days; his dead body was recovered from the Kali River. Indian police concocted a story that Mahalingam had committed suicide by jumping into the river. It is a big joke to hide some real facts behind his death because wisdom proves that if an educated person decides to commit suicide, he will definitely adopt a soft way to eliminate his life. Notably, Dr. Haleema Saadia disclosed that death of the scientist is a conspiracy, as soon as his dead body was found, within no time; the police had announced that Mahalingam had committed suicide.
Nevertheless, in connivance with the officials, proliferation of nuclear components and their related-material has continued intermittently by the Indians.
Besides, in the recent past, solid evidence has surprised the world regarding the existence of Hindu terrorism which also shows future dangers of Indian proliferation. In this respect, Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra arrested a serving Lt. Col. Srikant Purohit along with some officials who confessed that they were involved in training of the Hindu terrorists, supplying them the military-grade explosive RDX, used in bombings of various Indian cities including Malegaon. The investigation further indicated the confession of Lt. Col. Purohit for the bombing of Samjhota express, while proving close links of the Indian army officials with prominent politicians of BJP, VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal, who have been pressurizing New Delhi to release the arrested persons. Nevertheless, the enquiry still remains pending. Meanwhile, assassination of Indian Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare in Mumbai during terror attacks also endorsed these links. All these developments show that Hindu fundamentalists, trained by Indian military experts or secret agency RAW could obtain Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). Thus they could jeopardise the global peace by using these fatal weapons inside America and Europe so that these developed nations could point finger to Islamabad because of their ‘stereotypes’ against the Muslims in wake of war on terror.
However, it is surprising that despite nuclear proliferation by India in violation of various international agreements and its refusal to sign Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), CTBT and Additional Protocol with the IAEA, the United States also included New Delhi in its joined non-proliferation goals like Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) by praising India as a responsible atomic actor.
In the past, Islamabad offered a number of suggestions to New Delhi to jointly sign NPT and CTBT, but the latter flatly declined. Instead, in 1998, India detonated atomic devices and compelled Pakistan to follow the suit. On July 27 this year, by launching its first nuclear-powered submarine, India has initiated deadly nuclear arms in South Asia.
It seems that all the global non-proliferation conventions led by Washington and its western partners are applicable to Iran, North Korea and especially Pakistan, while India which has played a real role in the international black market from where even terrorists can obtain these fatal weapons, is exempted because the sole superpower has to fulfill its Asian interests through New Delhi at the cost of Islamabad and other regional countries. If American duplicity in the matter continues, Obama’s policy of South Asia will badly fail as all the issues such as terrorism, Kashmir, Afghanistan and non-proliferation are inter-related.
We can conclude that western countries ignore India which is the real nuclear proliferator. So the right hour has come that the international community must take notice of the dangers posed by Indian proliferation to save the world from any prospective nuclear catastrophe.
Sajjad Shaukat writers on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations.
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