On the fourth anniversary of the 1998 Pokhran tests: unabdridged notes and transcriptions from a series of interviews by Amitav Ghosh that went on to become the seminal book Countdown.
Interview
Lawyer and human rights activist, Asma Jahangir, Lahore, August 29, 1998
Amitav Ghosh
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Interview
K.G. Subrahmaniam, former Director, Indian Institute of Strategic Studies; New Delhi, argues that a nuclear weapon, like a million pound note, is of apparently no use -- you can't stop small wars -- but it gets you credit and that gives you power to intimidate.
Amitav Ghosh
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Interview
Praful Bidwai, journalist and nuclear expert, 18th August 1998 -- on NPT, CTBT and the security hazards
Amitav Ghosh
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Interview
Chandan Mitra, Editor, The Pioneer, a consistent supporter of the bomb, feels that a furore both within the country and outside was caused perhaps because it was a BJP government which exploded the bomb.
Amitav Ghosh
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Interview
General V.P. Malik, then Chief of Army Staff, argues that from the professional point of view there is no chance of the possibility of a nuclear conflict
Amitav Ghosh
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Interview
George Fernandes, Defence Minister, says that the explosions were mainly a deterrent and that there will not be any more tests and that India would adhere to a no first-use policy .
Amitav Ghosh
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Interview
Tracing it back to Nehru, Kanti Bajpai, while not being entirely dismissive of the arguments of the defence strategists and experts, argues that none of these stand up to close scrutiny.
Amitav Ghosh
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From Amitavghosh.com:
Prompted by the military escalation of the last few weeks, I have looked again at my notes and
transcriptions for Countdown
–
my 1998 New Yorker
article on the nuclear situation in South Asia (later published as a book by Ravi Dayal).
Finding much in them that is still relevant, in one way or another, I have decided to post them on this site.
Unfortunately I have not had the time to properly edit the transcripts, so they are posted here without
benefit of corrections. The interviews were all conducted in August 1998. They are arranged in the following
order:
1. Asma Jahangir (lawyer
and human rights activist, Lahore).
2. K. Subrahmanyam (defence
and foreign policy expert; New Delhi).
3. Praful Bidwai
(journalist and nuclear expert; New Delhi, 1998).
4. Chandan Mitra
(editor, The Pioneer, New Delhi).
5. V.P.Malik (then Chief of
Army Staff).
6. George Fernandes
(India's Defence Minister, New Delhi, August)
7. Kanti Bajpai (Professor
of Internation Relations, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi).
(Please click here for exclusive
excerpts from Countdown. For more writings by and on Amitav Ghosh, please visit his website, amitavghosh.com)