NEW DELHI, May 28: While most Opposition parties blamed the BJP-led government for promoting a nuclear arms race in the sub-continent, saying that the party could not be trusted with country's future, the Congress played it safe.The Congress issued a carefully-worded statement after an emergency CWC meeting which showed the dilemma of the party: ``Pakistan's nuclear tests are as expected as they are regrettable. This is a grave development. We appear to be poised on the edge of the kind of arms race involving nuclear weapons which should have been avoided.'' The statement added: ``At this critical juncture, the Congress stands with the nation united and determined to safeguard the country's independence, security and sovereignty. The Congress calls upon the government to deal with the emerging scenario with responsibility, maturity and restraint.But taking a different line, other parties said the country needed to put up a united front but wanted the BJP to admit its culpability in bringing about thesituation. Veteran CPI (M) leader Somnath Chatterjee said that if the BJP thought India's tests were pre-emptive, they had failed to prevent Pakistan from testing. He described Prime Minister A B Vajpayee's statement that the Pakistan tests had vindicated India's stand as an ``afterthought.''Equally aggressive in his criticism of the BJP was former Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party. ``It is the BJP which created this problem,'' he said, accusing it of being needlessly provocative. ``The BJP thought it can destroy Pakistan and China like it brought down the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya,'' he said.Former Prime Minister I K Gujral said that the tests by Pakistan were expected. If the tests were delayed till now it would have been under pressure from the United States. ``We still have to see what the US reaction towards Pakistan will be,'' he said.The United Front spokesman, S Jaipal Reddy, said that before India tested its nuclear capability, it clearly had a military edge overPakistan. But the tests by both the countries had brought about some equality between the two.The question of war between India and Pakistan should not be allowed to be raised. ``We should see that a nuclear arms race is not triggered between the two countries as that would impoverish our economies further,'' he said.Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that Pakistan's tests had vindicated the Opposition parties' view that India's going nuclear would herald an arms race in the region.The CPI, while strongly deploring Pakistan's nuclear tests, has called for an ``approach of sobriety and restraint'' in the aftermath of the tests.The party's leadership said that the Left had been pointing out from the outset that the Pokharan tests would unleash similar action in Pakistan. ``The policy makers of the BJP should have anticipated this development and that it would lead to an arms race in the region,'' a CPI statement said.The Left had constantly emphasised that peace and security in the regioncould not be guaranteed by nuclear warheads targeted at each other and the Pakistan tests had only underscored this danger. The emerging situation demanded that India and Pakistan pursue a policy of dialogue, convince Islamabad to agree to a ``no first strike'' policy and strive for universal nuclear disarmament, the CPI said.
