The concern over nuclear testing too is misconceived. We don’t need tests to make better bombs. We have a deterrent, which is all we need. We need to improve our delivery system. We need longer range missiles. For that we do not need nuclear tests. What we need is total nuclear disarmament. India is sitting on a time-bomb.
Non-proliferation has already been breached. Given present trends, a future nuclear terrorist strike seems inevitable. Among all nations, India has suffered the largest number of terrorist strikes. That makes it the likeliest target of a future terrorist nuclear strike. Only total nuclear disarmament can prevent that. Critics scoff at the idea. They consider it too utopian. Is it?
Henry Kissinger was a great non-proliferation advocate. He seems to have realised that it cannot work. Now, along with former secretaries of state and defence, he has written two articles in The Wall Street Journal calling on America to lead a global campaign for total nuclear disarmament.
One doubts if the US can do it successfully. It lacks credibility. To effectively create a nuclear-free world, a global authority to inspect and monitor nations worldwide is required. In the present context, only the UN can do that. To achieve it, the UN would have to evolve into a virtual world government. That presupposes international sanction. Who can help in the attainment of such sanction? Can, and will, the US help?
In all this, India can perhaps play a catalytic role. It could use its leverage to nudge the world towards total nuclear disarmament. It could, for instance, approach Pakistan and Iran to create a joint nuclear defence mechanism that allows all three nations to jointly control the Indo-Pakistan nuclear deterrent. If this succeeds, the idea could be expanded to eventually make all of Asia a nuclear-free zone, which retains a joint nuclear deterrent until world disarmament is achieved. Till that time, the Asian nations could work with the UN.
Does this sound daft? Perhaps. But not as daft as imagining that there will never be a terrorist nuclear strike.
(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)
