Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee yesterday reiterated the government's commitment to opening negotiations for a Nuclear Weapons Convention.
Addressing Parliament for the first time after the nuclear tests, Vajpayee said: "We have been and will continue to be in the forefront of the calls for opening negotiations for a Nuclear Weapons Convention, so that this challenge can be dealt with in the same manner that we have dealt with the scourge of two other weapons of mass destruction - through the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention." Both these conventions ban all weapons of these types.
Vajpayee, quoting from Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi's speeches in the House, kept the government's position on the same lines as that of the previous governments on retaining India's option, exercising restraint and working towards global elimination of nuclear weapons.
"These tests are a continuation of the policies set into motion that put this country on the path of self-reliance and independence of thought and action," he said. And he made it clear that "disarmament was and continues to be a major plank in our foreign policy."
Without explaining the coersive potential of the entry into force clause of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which is to become operational next year, he said India's recent blasts had removed doubts about its nuclear status: "The action involved was balanced in that it was the minimum necessary to maintain what is an irreducible component of our national security calculus."
Further marking India's position for negotiations, Vajpayee declared: "India is now a nuclear weapon state. This is a reality that cannot be denied. It is not a conferment that we seek; nor is it a status for others to grant. It is an endowment to the nation by our scientists and engineers."
He referred to the announced moratorium on further tests as "voluntary," adding that "we have also indicated willingness to move towards a de jure formalisation of this declaration." He explained that "our nuclear policy has been marked by restraint and openness. ....Restraint, however, has to arise from strength. It cannot be based upon indecision or doubt."
The Prime Minister declared that "our strengthened capability adds to our sense of responsibility. We do not intend to use these weapons for aggression or for mounting threats against any country; these are weapons of self-defence, to ensure that India is not subjected to nuclear threats or coercion. We do not intend to engage in an arms race."
Vajpayee recalled that, "in 1965, along with a small group of non-aligned countries, India put forward the idea of an international non-proliferation agreement under which the nuclear weapon states would agree to give up their arsenals provided other countries refrained from developing or acquiring such weapons. This balance of rights and obligations was not accepted."
Without naming China, which first tested a nuclear device in 1964, Vajpayee then stated: "In the `60s our security concerns deepened. The country sought security guarantees but the countries we turned to were unable to extend to us the expected assurances." Again without naming Pakistan, Vajpayee said: "The decades of the `80s and `90s had meanwhile witnessed the gradual deterioration of our security environment as a result of nuclear and missile proliferation. In our neighborhood, nuclear weapons had increased and more sophisticated delivery systems inducted. In addition, India has also been the victim of externally aided and abetted terrorism, militancy and clandestine war."
Stating that "the overwhelming support of our citizens is our source of strength" and that "we have also been greatly heartened by the outpouring of support from Indians abroad," Vajpayee emphasised the importance of maintaining the national consensus which had sustained the policy of successive governments successfully.
"Avoiding triumphalism, let us work together towards our shared objective in ensuring that as we move towards a new millennium, India will take its rightful place in the international community."