Nuclear Programs of India and Pakistan

The Indian Army chief said that Pakistan has crossed its nuclear defense capability's minimum level. Meanwhile, Nausirunji Sithna, an Indian nuclear scientist and former chief of the Atomic Energy Commission, while confirming the failure of 1998 nuclear explosions, said that those explosions were failed. Therefore, India should conduct more nuclear explosions.

India Becomes Nuclear Power
India became a nuclear power in 1974. Pakistan took 24 years to reach that level. If Pakistan had nuclear technology in 1970, India would have never mustered up courage to invade Pakistan, nor would Pakistan have lost its eastern wing.

Although Pakistan became a declared nuclear power in 1998, but it got the capability in the 80's and the Indian leaders were aware of it. That is why the Indian Army withdrew from the Pakistani borders without invasion.

India did not stop at 1974's explosion and conducted more nuclear tests in 1998.Even after that and during that time, it was always obsessed with amassing the most advanced and the most dangerous weapons. Today India is the greatest purchaser of weapons from Israel. Agreement has been signed with the United States for the purchase of advanced jet fighters. The United States is providing civil nuclear energy to India, and is also going to provide a nuclear submarine to India.

Pakistan's Stand
Pakistan is the US ally in the war on terror, but the United States is rewarding India. The Indian nuclear capability has gone beyond deterrence and the US media have disclosed this fact. However, the United States has completely closed its eyes.

Now India has started adopting another deception by declaring that its testes conducted in 1998 were a failure to avoid signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty so that it could improve its nuclear program and conduct more experiments.

Accusation on Pakistan
Accusation on Pakistan for going beyond limits of nuclear capability is, in fact, the production of the nature of the same Hindu moneylenders, according to which it wanted to divert the attention of the world from the expansion of its nuclear program and subsequent conversion into hydrogen bomb. The Pakistani Government should play its role in exposing India's vicious plans before the world and should prepare itself for retaliation, in case of new nuclear experiments.

New Era of Indo-US Relations

A new era could really begin in the Indo-US bilateral relations after the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's five-day official visit to India. Hillary's this trip started from Mumbai and concluded with her meetings with the Indian politicians in New Delhi.

The aim of Hillary's visit was to provide a strong basis of mutual relations between industrialists, prominent citizens, and younger generation of both countries as well as to the bilateral relations between India and the United States, and she was quite successful.

The opinion of the Indian diplomatic circles has not been good with regard to Democratic Administration of the US. The US President Barack Obama increased this apprehension through some of his elections speeches.

In present visit, Hillary has put to rest several such apprehensions. The relations between India and the United States are not being dictated now by noble thoughts of some political leader, but by the long-term perspective adopted by the Pentagon, according to which if the US has to maintain its status in the 21st century, it would have to move on with strategic partnership with some regional powers based more or less on equality.

Nuclear Programme
In fact, it is going to be 10 years of the Pokhran nuclear tests by India and Chagai nuclear tests by Pakistan. Hillary tried to clearly underline two different viewpoints the United States has developed during these past 10 years toward the two countries.

In 1999, Pakistan was a strategic partner of the US, whereas the US used to look at India, until then, as a country in the Soviet camp, which was compelled to lean toward it as the Soviet camp disintegrated.

At present, the US is calling India a strategic partner, and also it is also obvious from the announcements of agreements and understandings during Hillary's visit that it is eager to move forward in that direction.

Pakistan-Centric Issues
The mention of Pakistan's nuclear program in US statements is being made only in the context of concerns related to nuclear terrorism, whereas US energy companies are eager about the beginning of a new chapter of the Indian nuclear program.

During her visit, Hillary tried to say it in different ways that instead of looking at itself with Pakistan's yardstick, India should move forward with global ambitions and should consider the US as a reliable ally in this journey. This is a very big change in the US viewpoint and its implications would become clear as time goes by.

Priorities Formulated
Moreover, in the finer details hereafter, India should keep its priorities clear and should not let them get mixed up with the interests of the US. Pakistan could be a common headache for both, but both would have to deal with it in their own ways. If power companies and arms companies of the US want to do business with India, the US would have to mould its laws accordingly.

The manner in which a way out has been found on the end use agreement of weapons during this tour, the US would have to find a similar way out in the matter of reprocessing of nuclear fuel and other matters.