PM floats seven-point proposal for nuclear disarmament

New Delhi, Jun 9 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today mooted a set of seven proposals for achieving global nuclear disarmament and helping countries like India to make use of nuclear energy to meet their goals of national development and energy security.

The proposals were also aimed at checking the growing risk of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists or those driven by extreme ideologies and dealing with the increasing danger of non-state actors accessing nuclear materials and devices.

Dr Singh, who made the proposals in his inaugural address at an International Conference on ''Towards a World Free of Nuclear Weapons,'' said the development of new weapon systems based on emerging technologies posed challenges to space security and provided new roles for nuclear weapons.

Also, the threat of climate change and global warming itself raised a range of security concerns, especially for India and others in the developing world, he said.

Ruling out the feasibility of ''regionalising'' nuclear disarmament, he said India's proposals would result in non-discriminatory and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons within a timeframe and offer wider options of energy sources for India and other developing nations.

Pointing out that India had witnessed rapid economic growth in the last few years and was poised for even higher growth rates in the future, he said the country would need a peaceful international environment so that ''we can focus our resources on improving the lives of our people.

''We seek a world in which power flows through the empowerment of people, and from the strength and resilience of our economy, our society, our institutions and our values.'' Among his suggestions were reaffirmation of the unequivocal commitment of all nuclear weapon states to the goal of complete elimination of nuclear weapons and reduction of the salience of nuclear weapons in security doctrines.

The Prime Minister also wanted adoption of measures by nuclear weapon states to reduce nuclear danger, including the risks of accidental use of nuclear weapons.

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