Why the US-India Nuclear Deal Spells Disaster for the World
In his extremely perceptive bvook India's Nuclear Bomb, George Perkovitich has documented in telling detail the long and covert road to nuclearization in India. Right fro the start of her nuclear research in the early i950,s the civillian uses of nuclear technology has only been a fascade for carrying out a covert programme of weaponisation. The sanctimonious humbug that a developing country needs nuclear energy for meeting its ever increasing demands for electricity was first trotted out by Indian leaders in 1994 when the country exploded a nuclear device of 18 kiloton. The fact of the matter is that the p,lutonium fro that explosion came from the Tarapur Plant that had been supplied with nuclear fuel by the US. By not signing the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and boldly exploding a Nuclear Bomb, India demonstrated to the weorld that the rhetoric of non proliferation not withstandinng, the world will quickly forget the brazen challenge. In fact now evidence has come to light that many of the components for the nuclear establishments in India, particularly dual use technologies governed by stringent non proliferation rules have been willfully breached by India in her haste and anxiety to acquire nuclear weapons. South Africa eems to have been the most favored countries for the export of dual use technologies in complete and total violation of US domestic laws.
In this context the Congress must ponder over a number of questions. The Nuclear Deal with the USA will violate US obligations as a weapon states signatory to the NPT. As a weapon state the US had given a formal comigftttment to the world that ir will not assist other nations from acquiring the Bomb. By agreeing to supply Nuclear fuel to India the US is violating its commitmnet under the NPT. Secon, it will make the US policy of containing countries like Iran and North Korea extremely difficult. In fact what India has done is far far worse than Iran. For nearly 50 years we were only hearing the rhetoric of peaceful uses of nuclear energy fro Indian leaders while all the time they were making the Bomb. As far as Iran is concerned, it argues that the NPT does not prohibit the full fuel cycle, and in this interpretations the Iranians are correct. Of course they hid a part of their research, but the fact of the matter is that India pulled wool over the eyes of the whole world and now the Bush Administration is legitimising this gross violatuion of its own policy.