Speaking at `Pokhran II: A Year After,' a seminar organised by Indian Scientists Against Nuclear Weapons, Frontline editor N Ram said India should take up non-deployment and dismantling of nuclear weapons in tandem with Pakistan.

Stating that the Pokhran-II tests were in violation of the national agenda for governance of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government, he said the Government made an enormous miscalculation on the impact of the tests on international relations. Further, by linking the nuclear tests with Kashmir, Union Home Minister L K Advani gave Pakistan enough reason to raise the Kashmir issue in international fora.

"The BJP-led Government has hijacked India's independent and peace-oriented nuclear policy and twisted it out of shape. Now, India is facing near-isolation asthe Government did a swing from jingoistic adventurism to a near capitulation," he said.

Madras Institute of Development Studies chairman C T Kurien said while the building of nuclear weapons is expected to cost India Rs 24,000 crore a year, there is no forum for discussion on this expenditure. ``Do we need drinking water and sanitation or nuclear weapons to fight an imaginary enemy?'' he asked, exhorting scientists to convert knowledge into queries meaningful to the common man and provide leads for answers.

ISANW member T Jayaraman observed that the word `deterrent' only meant an arms race, keeping the people under constant threat. "It is like two people pointing guns at each other's heads. The Prime Minister's statement of India's nuclear power being a `minimum credible deterrent', does not say what is minimum, while it lacks credibility as a deterrent," he said.