Brajesh disagrees with Kargil review panel recommendation

NEW DELHI, NOV. 10. The Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, Mr. Brajesh Mishra has disagreed with the recommendation of the Kargil Review Committee for an independent national security adviser, saying it would be better for the present if he continued to hold the two key positions.

Mr. Mishra, however, said he was not suggesting this for personal reasons but in other countries also ``both national security and the job of Principal Secretary require people who are totally trusted by the PM''.

Replying to a question by Mr. Vir Sanghvi on ``Star Talk'' programme to be Telecast on November 12, he said ``secondly you do not want a conflict in this situation, so it is better for one person to deal with (the two positions).''

He said ``it is better for the two jobs to remain with one person but this should not be the ultimate solution.''

He said a Group of Ministers was examining the ways of implementing the report.

On the Pokhran tests, Mr. Mishra said they were conducted following threats of war from Pakistan soon after the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, assumed office in 1998.

``Well, actually a discussion (on the nuclear policy) took place two weeks or so after the Prime Minister took oath (on March 19, 1998) and we left it at that.''

``Then came the missile and all the claims from the other side, of a war. And at that point, the Prime Minister said, o.k., let us go ahead (with the tests),'' Mr. Mishra said.

He said the 1995 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference decided to extend the NPT indefinitely which meant perpetuating the regime of the five nuclear weapon states and the rest in a state of nuclear apartheid.

Mr. Mishra said at that point, he had decided that if he had ever anything to do with the Government, going nuclear would be the first priority, according to a transcript of the interview made available.

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