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15
THE
CPMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY
( THE CTBT)
The
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was sworn in on 13 October 1999 for the
third term. In continuation of the May 1998 nuclear blasts by India, the new government spelt out three conditions to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The
conditions were:
1.
Successful conclusion of the nuclear
negotiations with the USA and other great powers.
2.
India would not join the treaty in a
coercive atmosphere.
3.
The Indian decision on the CTBT would be
subjected to the broadest possible national consensus on the treaty.
In
order to evolve a national consensus, the government sounded the views of the
opposition parties.
The opposition parties felt that the
developed countries might violate the treaty on the sly.
They wanted to know whether India had the
access to technical means to know whether a CTBT subscriber had cheated or not.
They emphasised that India should not end up
on the losing side in the “bargain” (
Refer Singh- Talbott talks under Indo-US relations.).
They also wanted India to work for the total
elimination of nuclear weapons from the world.
The Left parties were against signing the
CTBT in a hurry.
Many parties wanted a debate in the
Parliament in this matter.
Dr.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Senior Scientific Adviser to the Government of India,
pointed out that when India proposed the CTBT in the 1950s as a step towards
total nuclear disarmament, the USA was totally against it. He added that the
CTBT would serve the non proliferation agenda of the Nuclear Weapons States (NWS) with total disregard to either the
original nuclear disarmament goals or to the legitimate security compulsions of
India. Besides, he said that the CTBT had lost its relevance technologically.
Dr. M.R. Srinivasan, former Chairman of the Atomic
Energy Commission, also opposed the India signing the CTBT. According to him:
1.
India would still need some more tests of
explosive kind.
2.
The USA would supply China and France with
weapon test information to improve the safety of their weapons. But the USA had
been denying the same to India.
3.
The USA had violated bilateral agreements to
supply high technology materials to India on the pretext of a subsequent
legislation.
4.
The USA, China and Pakistan were not prepared
to give “no first use” commitment to India. It is not easy for India to build a
second strike capability.
Considering all relevant facts, the Prime Minister – in an interview to
the leading Russian daily, Izvestia,
said that the rejection of the treaty by the US Senate had an impact on the
domestic opinion in India. He wanted all countries whose accession was
essential for the coming into force of the CTBT to do so without any
pre-condition. He requested the USA not to cite India for not ratifying the
treaty. He, further, rejected the Non
Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a discriminating and flawed treaty and ruled
out the possibility of joining the NPT regime as a non-nuclear weapon power.
Now, Dr. P.K. Iyengar, former
Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission said that India must test more n-bombs
before signing the treaty.
Thanks to the nuclear blasts, the World
Bank (WB) had withheld loans amounting to 1.5 billion. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had followed suit. The G-
countries (The USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia) had
also imposed certain restrictions with reference to the loans.
The US Assistant Secretary of
State, Karl Inderfurth, said that the USA would work for such restrictions
to force India to sign the CTBT. He said this immediately after the visit of Mr. Bill Clinton to India (7-5-2000) To
this the External Affairs Minister of India, Mr. Singh, that India would not sign the CTBT in the near future.
Prime Minister Vajpayee paid a
visit to Portugal to attend the first ever Summit with the European Union. At
that time, he said that in an increasingly independent world, a plural security
order alone can deal with the challenges of the new era. He told the top
leadership of the European Union, that India believed in effective
multi-polarity and wanted them to look at the nuclear capability of India
through that angle. He added that only multi-polarity would give strategic space
and autonomy in decision making.
With regard to the question of signing the CTBT, the Prime Minister said
that efforts were on to evolve a broad political consensus on the issue and
expressed the hope that he would succeed in this matter. He hinted that the
Parliament would consider the matter very soon. However, there was not much
discussion on the CTBT in the Parliament or outside.
During the Millenium Summit of the
UN, Prime Minister Vajpayee revealed in clear terms, the Indian stand on the
CTBT. He said in a written statement that the Section 14 of the CTBT permitted
certain countries to keep atomic weapons. As India had no belief in that Section,
he said that India would consider the question of signing the CTBT only when
that Section was removed. However, India would participate in negotiations on
fissile material ban with a view to form a non-discriminatory treaty.
During his visit to the USA, Prime Minister Vajpayee had a detailed
discussion on the CTBT with President Bill Clinton. There was a conscious
effort to understand each other and not to impose anything.
In the matter of nuclear non-proliferation also each side agreed to take
decisions in the Supreme national interest.
