India committed to NPT regime short of joining it — Jaswant

He said a global no-first-use agreement and a non-use agreement against non-nuclear weapons states would meet the longstanding requirement for legally binding negative security assurance and assurances to nuclear-weapon-free zones.

Jaswant Singh said another positive development would be a commitment by nuclear weapon states not to deploy nuclear weapons outside their own national territories. Nuclear weapon states also need to take steps to lower the alert status, through gradual de-alerting actions, consistent with policies of no-first-use and the defensive role of nuclear weapons.

He said tactical weapons that lend themselves to war fighting roles need to be eliminated. These would be some positive and concrete steps in the right direction.

The Minister asserted India had been a responsible member of the international non-proliferation regime and will continue to take initiatives and work with like-minded countries to bring about stable, genuine and lasting non-proliferation, thus leading to a nuclear-weapon-free-world.

Jaswant Singh said that in 1995, the NPT was extended indefinitely and unconditionally and 187 countries were today parties to it. “The proponents of NPT cite these developments as evidence of NPT’s success yet, it is also clear that there exist strong differences even among the NPT states parties. Three of the five review conferences held so far failed to reach any agreement on a `final document’. The non-nuclear weapon states parties to the NPT have increasingly felt let down by the lack of progress on disarmament, as well as non-compliance with the basic provisions of the treaty.”

He said the nuclear weapons states parties to the NPT and their allies had not diminished the role of nuclear weapons in their respective or collective security calculus on the contrary, new doctrines and justifications had been developed. NATO’s new strategic concept, announced last year, ten years after the end of the cold war, re-emphasises a need for the continued retention of nuclear weapons. The nuclear weapons sharing arrangements within NATO also posed serious questions about compliance.

“Such developments are clear and continuing violations of the provisions of the NPT. This the NPT community has been unable to discuss, let alone deal with,” the Minister added.

Jaswant Singh said one of the basic obligations of the nuclear-weapon-states under the NPT was to prevent further proliferation. The record on this had also not been satisfactory.

The nuclear-weapon-states had either been active collaborators nor silent spectators to continuing proliferation, including exports of nuclear weapon related components and technologies.

He said after more than three decades, the nuclear weapon states parties to the NPT remained to be persuaded to begin any kind of collective, meaningful negotiations aimed at global nuclear disarmament. These countries were expected to display a special responsibility to implement Article VI instead, this special responsibility today appeared to be arrogated as a permanent special right to process nuclear weapons and only for their exclusive security.

Jaswant Singh said India was a nuclear weapon state and though not a party to the NPT, its policies had been consistent with the key provisions of NPT that applied to nuclear weapon states.

The Minister said these provisions were contained in articles I, III and VI. Article I obliged a nuclear weapon state not to transfer nuclear weapons to any other country or assist any other country to acquire them and India’s record on non-proliferation has been impeccable.

He said Article III required a party to the treaty to provide nuclear materials and related equipment to any other country only under safeguards India’s exports of such materials had always been under safeguards.

Jaswant Singh said Article VI committed the parties to pursue negotiations to bring about eventual global nuclear disarmament and empasised that India today was the only nuclear weapon state that remained committed to commencing negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention to bring about a nuclear-weapon-free-world, the very objective envisaged in Article VI of the NPT.

He said after the tests undertaken by India in May, 1998, the government had declared it shall only maintain a minimum credible deterrent and not engage in any arms race. The role of India’s nuclear weapons was defensive accordingly, India had announced a policy of no-first-use and a policy of non-use against non-nuclear weapon states.

In fact, he added this met the demand of unqualified negative security assurances, raised by the large majority of non-nuclear weapon states to ensure their security.

Jaswant Singh said India had also indicated readiness to provide requisite assurances to the nuclear-weapon-free-zones in existence or those being negotiated and also taken new initiatives calling for de-alerting of nuclear weapons as a means of reducing the risk of accidental or unauthorised launch.