We can make bomb: PM

NEW DELHI, May 15: In an apparent attempt to regain the initiative from Western powers intent on imposing sanctions, Prime Minister Atal Beh...

NEW DELHI, May 15: In an apparent attempt to regain the initiative from Western powers intent on imposing sanctions, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has said that India has the quot;capacity for a big bombquot; now, would not use it first, nor would it sign the NPT or the CTBT in its present form.

In an interview to India Today, Vajpayee implied that India now intended to weaponise its nuclear option. quot;You would have noted that neither my own statement of May 11 nor the longer official text released later that day has characterised the nuclear tests as peaceful nuclear tests8217;. Our intentions were, are and will always be peaceful. We have the capacity for a big bomb now for which the necessary command and control system is also in place. Ours will never be weapons of aggression.quot; This, sources say, implies that a chain of command has been worked out but not operationalised.

India need not now cover itself quot;with a veil of needless ambiguity,quot; the PM added, quot;India now is a nuclear weaponsstate.quot;

Talking about the NPT and the CTBT, the PM emphasised that quot;there is no question of India accepting any treaty that is discriminatory in character. No one should have any illusions on this score.quot;

Vajpayee8217;s remarks signify that India will now adopt a quot;no first-usequot;policy, which allows it to retain the high moral ground even as it speaks from a position of strength 8212; just as the acknowledged nuclear powers have always done. The PM himself indicated this at a meeting with BJP workers today.

quot;We will not use these weapons against anyone but if the country8217;s defence requires us to do so, we will not hesitate,quot; he said.

The PM8217;s declarations came mere hours after the Security Council in New York castigated India for its five nuclear tests. Sweden, instigated by Britain, moved the motion of censure yesterday, and sought to use the word quot;condemnquot; for New Delhi8217;s action.

Story continues below this ad

But France is believed to have stepped in and as a permanent member of the Council put pressure on the other members to waterdown the text.

Ultimately, the resolution that was passed said that the Council quot;strongly deploresquot; the tests and quot;strongly urgesquot; India to refrain from doing any more.

In response, the ministry of external affairs MEA took the unusual step of criticising the Council, indicative of the tough mood prevalent in the PMO. quot;We are surprised by this action, because the Council has never thought it necessary even to take cognizance of the many hundreds of nuclear tests carried out over the last 50 years8230;quot; the MEA said.

The official statement, in fact, contains the seeds of the strategy India is now likely to pursue to combat international criticism. Clearly, New Delhi is keen on signing the CTBT as a quot;responsible, global powerquot;. That means international acknowledgement that it is the world8217;s sixth nuclear weapons state, a demand that has so far been rejected out of hand.

Story continues below this ad

New Delhi is also likely to go further by seeking to amend the character of the CTBT itself, and make it a comprehensive treaty thatquot;genuinelyquot; goes into the elimination of nuclear weapons. The MEA statement says as much:

quot;The refusal of the nuclear weapons states to consider the elimination of nuclear weapons in a multilateral and time-bound framework, despite the end of the Cold War, continues to be the single biggest threat to international peace and stability.quot;

The government, meanwhile, stepped up its diplomatic offensive, with the PM today writing letters to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, all three countries in the neighbourhood that have been supportive of India8217;s action.

A letter is also going out to Colombia, which as the current chairman of the Non-Aligned movement NAM, is holding a ministerial meeting on May 19-20. NAM8217;s reaction to India8217;s test is keenly awaited, since India has been a key figure in this movement. By the weekend, sources said, letters will have gone out to the rest of the world.

Story continues below this ad

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary K. Raghunath and his senior colleagues have begun meeting the heads of all 127 missions inNew Delhi, explaining India8217;s position. They will stress that India8217;s nuclear capability is not a threat to any state, and that the tests were conducted in response to the deteriorating strategic environment in South Asia and that India8217;s actions will not be quot;irresponsible.quot;