US stopping India becoming full nuclear weapons state: Joshi

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Mar 30 (UNI) BJP senior leader and noted scientist Murli Manohar Joshi today apprehended that the Waiver Authority Bill introduced in the United States Congress was a 'clever ploy' imposing a qualitative and quantitative ceiling on India's nuclear deterrence and to ensure that India will never emerge as a full nuclear weapons state.

He said all nuclear weapons states including Pakistan, Israel, Iran would be free to conduct nuclear explosions while India will now be prohibited from doing so. "Our voluntary moratorium on future tests will cease to be revocable", Dr Joshi, a former Science and Technology Minister in the NDA Government lamented.

He said that since Pakistan is not under the ambit of any such restriction, it can overtake India on nuclear weapons. "What India and its scientists had achieved after Pokhran II has been lost by signing the Indo-US nuclear deal in March 2006. Under the U S administration's proposed Bill, India becomes a party to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty which the US Senate had rejected some years ago", he said.

Releasing his letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Dr Joshi asked him to read the writing on the wall and take the nation into confidence to allay the serious apprehensions in the minds of the people. People must be assured that there will be no compromise on India's sovereignty, security and energy independence.

He said no sovereign nation would ever compromise its strategic and energy security as India would be doing so if the provisions of the WAB are accepted. The Government should seek the US to repeal or amend the provisions of their domestic law by repealing certain clauses. The waiver route should be rejected. The voluntary ban on future explosions by India should in no case be converted into permanent and irrevocable moratorium by the US legislation, Dr Joshi told a press conference.

India was recognised by the world as a responsible nuclear power and if it agrees with the provisions of the WAB, it would mean India's nuclear conduct will be determined by the US President and not by India, he warned.

He said there was no transparency on the part of the PM in informing the nation about the talks. The people should be told what the Indian Foreign Secretary is doing in the US. He also said that it was important no Democrat Congressman had supported the introduction of the WAB and the remarks of former US President Jimmy Carter is an indicator that the U S law making body may impose even stricter sanctions.

UNI MCN-KAS RP BD1736

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