15.Prime Minister Vajpayee and the CTBT

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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.