The Hindu : International / India & World : Seoul did not raise nuclear option, says Natwar Singh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 17, 2004

International

International - India & World

Seoul did not raise nuclear option, says Natwar Singh

By P.S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, DEC. 16. The External Affairs Minister, K. Natwar Singh, today reaffirmed that "the question of a regret" over India's possession of nuclear weapons "didn't arise" at all and emphasised New Delhi's "impeccable" record of non-proliferation.

Commenting on the controversy over some Indian media reports that he had, while speaking to The Korea Times in Seoul, expressed regret over New Delhi's decision to make atomic weapons, Mr. Singh narrated to The Hindu how he had actually portrayed India in its strategic colours as "a responsible nuclear power" with a commitment to disarmament.

During a stopover here while on his way back from Seoul, the Minister said his South Korean interlocutors, including the President and the Foreign Minister, did not raise the issue of India's exercise of the nuclear option. Mr. Singh was in Seoul for the third meeting of the India-South Korea Joint Commission.

Noting that his purported remarks were raised in Parliament in New Delhi today, the Minister said: "When I was asked: `Does India regret being a nuclear power?', I said: `The question of a regret didn't arise. It is now out of the tube and you can't put it back. But we are committed to total nuclear disarmament.' We have not signed the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] because it was discriminatory. But those countries which had signed the NPT must adhere to its regulations, and that included North Korea. That's all I said."

Defining aspects

Noting that he had drawn the attention of the South Korean publication to some defining aspects of India's profile as a nuclear power, he said he told them that "we have put a moratorium on nuclear tests and offered no-first-use" policy. He said: "I also referred to the Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan for time-bound nuclear/complete disarmament."

At the time the plan was presented, it was seen as a brave new vision of a nuclear-capable country as India then was, according to observers of the disarmament scene.

Contradicting a media story that he had asked the North Koreans not to go nuclear, Mr. Singh said he had only told the South Korean paper that "it is a burning question." In his talks with the South Korean leaders he wished the six countries, now seized of the North Korean nuclear issue, "success in [their] deliberations."

Asked to comment on Islamabad's latest act of recognising that the India-Pakistan nuclear situation was no flash-point, Mr. Singh said: "We have always maintained that. The Congress Government has been saying that it was an error to give this kind of a colouring to the nuclear situation in India. It is not a flash-point. It is an unfortunate phrase."

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