Unravelling Khan’s net, Bush calls for tough nuke controls

While he said that Pak President Pervez Musharraf had assured him that he would share ‘‘all information on the Khan network’’ with Washington, implicit in Bush’s message was a signal to Islamabad that it needed to do a lot more to shut down the nuclear black market.

Bush also called for strengthening of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and suspending all suspect nations from its board.

He asked the Nuclear Suppliers Group—the roughly 40 nations that provide most of the world’s nuclear technology—to refuse to sell designs and equipment to any country not already capable of making nuclear fuel. And said that he would ask nations to restrict the sale of nuclear technology to countries that do not agree to vigorous international inspections.

Incidentally, Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra told an international security conference in Munich last week that for a stronger nuclear regime to be effective—the kind that Bush proposed tonight—it has to be ‘‘evolved with wide and representative consultations.’’

Mishra did not allude to the widening mess in neighbouring Pakistan as a result of the Khan developments—especially as he met Pakistan Foreign Minister Kasuri on the margins of the Munich conference a day after he delivered his own speech on February 7—but pointed out that the conventional approach to security worldwide had so far ‘‘been less than effective’’ in dealing with the dangers of terrorism as well as nuclear proliferation.

As Mishra said: ‘‘Clubbing partners against proliferation with countries of true proliferation concern is a self-defeating approach, which can only weaken the cause of genuine non-proliferation.’’

Mishra’s comments come in the wake of rising speculation that the US, in the wake of the extra-constitutional proliferation from Pakistan, is very keen that India significantly strengthen its own export control regimes.

US officials have so far not made any connection between India and Pakistan but with US and India beginning a pathbreaking partnership on the transfer of high technology, space, civilian nuclear issues and missile defence—also called ‘‘new steps in strategic partnership’’—Washington would like New Delhi to create new laws or strengthen old ones to prevent nuclear leakage.

In a separate development, US assistant secretary of state for South Asia Christina Rocca, who is also the pointperson for the newly instituted strategic partnership on the ‘‘quartet’’ issues, is in town later this week. It isn’t clear so far who the Indian pointperson on the new strategic dialogue is so far even though earlier negotiations were carried out by deputy to the national security advisor Satish Chandra.

While Rocca’s focus on this trip is really the ‘‘regional dialogue’’ on Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, with India, her colleague, Assistant US Secretary of State for Strategic Security Steven Rademaker is arriving later this month to start informal conversations on missile defence.

Both Indian and US officials say that their bilateral dialogue will not have any connection with a Bush-inspired strengthened multilateral regime, but in real life, analysts admit, the A Q Khan episode has made Washington much more jumpy. The two have already decided to break up the NSSP into three phases so far, Phase I, Phase II and Phase III. In the first phase, the US seems satisfied with Indian commitments and assurances that its export control regimes are safe.

But in subsequent phases, Washington is likely to demand more concrete action from Delhi, arguing that the Indian establishment ‘‘may never even know’’ that leaks could take places from the centres all over the country.

— (with agencies)