NEW DELHI, May 26: The Centre's decision to impose a unilateral moratorium on further nuclear tests will not affect the country's weaponisation programme, union defence minister George Fernandes said. In an interview to the Star News channel at New Delhi Television (NDTV), Fernandes said: "Our scientists feel that Pokhran II has given them sufficient material for weaponisation."For the first time since the five nuclear tests at Pokhran, Fernandes openly supported the idea of inducting nuclear weapons in the armed forces. "Without weaponisation, the question of being a nuclear-weapons state does not make any sense," he said. "Nuclear weaponisation is necessary, and in the ultimate analysis, inevitable," the minister added.
According to a NDTV release, when asked whether this meant that missiles used by the Indian armed forces would now be equipped with nuclear warheads, the minister said: "That is precisely what it is." About exercising the nuclear option, Fernandes said "means weaponisation." Fernandesadded that as of now, no time frame was set to complete the weaponisation process. "The timing will depend on our defence and threat perceptions, which keep changing," the release added. It also quoted Fernandes as having said that weaponisation did not hold the threat of a nuclear war. Arguing that nuclear weapons have always been seen as a deterrent, he said: "No one is talking of a nuclear war. There is only one instance when nuclear weapons were used, and we know the circumstances. Nuclear weapons will only be a deterrent." Fernandes admitted that his views on the issue had changed since Pokhran I. "My position shifted after the manner in which the nuclear powers sought to force us to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which is a plain discriminatory regime," he said. The minister, however, did not agree that the strategic balance in the sub-continent had changed after Pokhran II. "Our defence priorities are still the same. We are facing a proxy war in Kashmir and an insurgency in thenorth-east. Those remain our priority areas and the situation on the ground is the same.
The difference perhaps is that where earlier 50 rounds were being fired by Pakistani artillery on the border, today they are firing 100," he said.
Fernandes, who had sparked off a controversy with his reported remarks about China said that he did not believe the post-Pokhran situation had alerted the Sino-India relationship.
"There is a dialogue between the two countries. There are joint-working groups which have been set up. I expected these to continue," he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
