Center for International Policy

As printed in New Kerala

August 16, 2005

India has safeguarded her nuke secrets impeccably: US expert

Compared to Pakistan, India has safeguarded her nuclear secrets impeccably, claims an American expert on international policies and affairs.
According to Selig Harrison, the director of the Washington-based Asia Programme at the Centre for International Policy, New delhi has demonstrated a willingness "to place all of its existing and future civilian nuclear reactors under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards."

"For India, US readiness to help meet its number one national challenge is the litmus test of the sincerity of US rhetoric about a new "strategic partnership" designed to strengthen India as a counterweight to China. The alternative to such a partnership could be the emergence over time of a Gaullist India that would play an unpredictable, freewheeling role in Asia," Harrison argues in an op-ed article in the Washington Post.

The Daily Times further quotes Harrison as saying that in anticipation of India dramatically multiplying its inventory of fissile material in the years ahead, the Bush administration has "wisely" recognised that it is imperative for Washington to bind India tightly to the global non-proliferation regime in order to make sure that this fissile material is not transferred to others.

Though not an NPT signatory, India has in practice observed Article One of the treaty, which bars such transfers, and the Indo-US agreement concluded on July 18 formalises and reinforces the Indian commitment to abide by non-proliferation norms, Harrison adds.

He further emphasizes that the "geological reality" is that India has 31 percent of the world's known deposits of a rare radioactive mineral, thorium, in addition to its substantial reserves of uranium. This, he feels, has emboldened New Delhi to consider exponential expansion of its nuclear power generating capacity, utilising imported uranium-fueled reactors at first but shifting progressively to thorium-based fast-breeder reactors now under construction or on the drawing board.

What goes in India's favour is that it has agreed to a moratorium on nuclear testing, pledged not to transfer "enrichment and reprocessing technology to states that do not have them" and initiated measures to make its export control policies conform to the guidelines of the US-led Nuclear Suppliers Group, concludes Harrison. (ANI)