NEW DELHI, Aug 6: India will take a ``second look'' at its commitments under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and could consider ``walking out'' of the accord if it perceived any threat to its national security, Prime Minister I K Gujral told the Parliament today.Taken to task by the Opposition for what they termed the United Front government's failure to realistically assess the threat posed by Chinese-supplied military aid to Pakistan, Gujral repeatedly asserted India's ability to ``look after itself''.The debate in the Lok Sabha on defence preparedness was initiated by Pramod Mahajan, Bharatiya Janata Party, who wanted to know what the government proposed to do in the light of media reports about Pakistan's chemical weapons capability and its refusal to ratify the CWC. India had unilaterally ratified the convention in September last year, declared its chemical weapons stocks and is currently undergoing the first round of inspections.China was supplying not just missiles, but the technology to produce advanced missiles to Pakistan and the recently-tested HATF-III missile was proof of the growing Sino-Pakistan military nexus, Mahajan said. ``What decision had the government taken on deploying Prithvi,'' he asked.Gujral said the Army was being familiarised with the surface-to-surface Prithvi missile but the situation did not warrant its immediate deployment. However, it would not be prudent to enunciate a defence doctrine, he added.Participating in the debate, Jaswant Singh, BJP, said what the MPs wanted to know from the Prime Minister was India's position in the face of Pakistan's recalcitrance to accede to the accord.Gujral's reply was categorical: ``We can walk out whenever we feel our national interest is compromised. We have the capacity to look after the country's defence. If the situation warrants we will have a second look at the accord.''Singh deplored the lack of a definitive defence doctrine and said claims of defence preparedness to meet any contingency were meaningless if the defence forces were not informed about developments. ``If we have chemical weapons, the Army does not know about it,'' he said.For the next half hour, Mahajan and Singh, joined by Samta Party MP George Fernandes, kept the Prime Minister engaged in a debate on the country's defence preparedness and the need for a well-enunciated defence doctrine. Fernandes wondered if the government had taken cognisance of Chinese assistance to Pakistan and how this factor had affected India-China relations.``Preserve peace if possible and prepare for the worst'' would describe India's reaction, Gujral replied.
