Nuclear Deterrence

[Arun_S]

India has been fusriously stockpiling mil grade material for now >10 years.







[url="http://www.samachar.com/India-asks-Pakistan-to-join-FMCT-talks-lm4cKLfdcee.html?source=recommended_news"]India asks Pakistan to join FMCT talks[/url]

December 30, 2011

Sandeep Dikshit

While emphasising restraint and responsibility in the management of nuclear weapons, India has expressed the hope that Pakistan would begin talks on joining the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) at the next Conference on Disarmament (CD) session expected to start in the third week of January.



Pakistan is the only hold out at the CD among 65 countries in substantial talks on the FMCT, a proposed pact that will ban the production of nuclear bomb making material. The FMCT is considered by many to be a key step towards effective nuclear disarmament and even if Pakistan agrees, many differences remain to be sorted out among the major nuclear weapons states on issues of scope, verification and permissible activities.



The issue came up at the sixth round of talks on nuclear and conventional confidence-building measures (CBMs) held in Islamabad earlier this week which saw both sides expressing satisfaction with the existing set of two nuclear related CBMs – advanced notification about ballistic missile launches and nuclear accidents.



India feels the FMCT could serve as a stepping stone for a more serious global push towards disarmament. “India has been prepared for a while and Pakistan was informed that it was also ready to join the talks if Islamabad agreed,'' said sources privy to the talks.



But differences came to the fore when both sides discussed expansion of CBMs to cover other areas, though the talks were held in a cordial atmosphere. Pakistan resisted India's request to publicly enunciate its nuclear doctrine, including assurances on no-first-use of nuclear weapons (which India has done) and strict civilian control over nuclear weapons. Pakistan said it does have a minimum credible deterrent, though it is not in the public domain.



“The main elements of India's nuclear doctrine are known. We are prepared to discuss this aspect in order to add a sense of transparency and predictability to Pakistan's nuclear policy. We urged Pakistan that it is important to demonstrate in practice restraint and responsibility in the nuclear field [by publicly stating their nuclear doctrine],'' said the sources.



On the other hand, India did not accept Pakistan's suggestion for including nuclear safety and civil nuclear cooperation in the talks. “Pakistan has been asking for new measures which were not in the 1999 Lahore memorandum of understanding (MoU). We want to first exhaust the potential of the Lahore MoU of which the main outstanding point is the exchange of nuclear doctrine,'' they said.