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Former Dy NSA wants India to Sign CTBT
Express News Service
Chennai September 4
INDIA must sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and push other nations to sign and ratify it said former deputy national security advisor and chairman of the joint intelligence committee Satish Chandra, on Friday.
With the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference looming in 2010, the debate over signing CTBT has cropped up again, with some experts decrying the Pokhran II thermonuclear test results and calling for more tests.
Speaking at a discussion on `Global Nuclear Disarmament: Opportunities and Challenges' organized by the Centre for Security Analysis and Delhi Policy Group on Friday, Chandra said, after signing the nuclear deal with United States, India's option to test another nuclear bomb has gone and it is in the country's interest if it pushes for other countries as well to sign the CTBT. India is one of the 14 countries that have not signed the treaty and it has so far maintained that it will not sign the CTBT in its present form.
Lt Gen V R Raghavan, advisor and research consultant to the
international commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and
Disarmament, dismissed the controversy surrounding Pokharan II and
said India has a weapon and it is more than enough to safeguard our
national interest.
"Tests alone don't solve security problems. We have a weapon and a
delivery mechanism. And it is more than enough to safeguard our
interests," said Raghavan.
In a similar vein disarmament was also discussed as one of the reasons to sign the CTBT. "India should push for CTBT and it is in India's interest if the treaty comes through so that no other state can undergo nuclear tests," said Chandra.
"Disarmament is not a simple process as no country would like to be in a disadvantageous position. International guarantees are required for disarmament. Although the number of nuclear warheads have come down from 70 thousand to about 26 thousand, it is far from enough," he said Dr Rajesh Rajagopalan, professor of international studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University agreed with these views saying, "Smaller the country possessing nuclear weapons, greater the problem in going for nuclear disarmament."
He added that the seriousness of Obama administration in pursuing the ratification of the CTBT will only be known during the 2010 NPT review conference.
The New Indian Express
Dated 5 September 2009