New Delhi:: The expected but unwelcome nuclear tests by North Korea on Monday has put India in a moral dilemma with New Delhi taking very careful steps on the issue lest it ends up hurting the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Foreign policy experts also say that the developments in the Korean Peninsula might end up complicating India's planned nuclear relationships with the US.
India, like North Korea, was not a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty when it conducted its first nuclear test. Under the circumstances, New Delhi's criticism of North Korea sounds more hypocritical than anything else.
Senior Indian government officials, however, say they are justified in their criticism. First of all, they say, North Korea violated its nuclear safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency -- safeguards which were in perpetuity and, therefore, applicable even though North Korea had pulled out from the NPT in 2003. "India, on the other hand, used safeguarded materials for its tests," they point out.
Secondly, North Korea's proliferation record puts it in the category of the so-called axis of evil. It borrowed weapons design from Pakistan, specifically A Q khan, the nuclear black marketer, who also had links with Iran, Libya and China. The Indian nuke weapons programme was indigenously developed.
Thirdly, India's keeping quiet on the issue would amount to a tacit support for North Korea, which is virtually isolated among the world community. "Criticism is good politics, at the end of the day," the say.
India-US deal in jeopardy?
But then does the nuke tests by North Korea put the Indo-US nuclear deal in jeopardy?
"It may not, but things are more complicated now," says Lalit Mansingh, former Indian ambassador to Washington. "Pyongyang’s secret test would make Delhi's nuclear diplomacy more complicated. The US Senate, which is due to consider the India-US nuclear deal, would now be compelled to assess it in the context of growing proliferation, illustrated by the North Korean example," he told a TV channel.
The fact that the nuclear proliferation took place from India's immediate neighbourhood doesn't help India's case either. In fact, on Monday the External Affairs Ministry took all the pain to express strong concern over the dangers of this clandestine proliferation. “We are monitoring the situation and are in close touch with several countries,” the MEA spokesperson said.
New Delhi's concerns are particularly over the clandestine proliferation aspect of North Korea's atomic programme, which has been helped by Pakistan. Officials pointed out that Pakistani support to North Korea's nuke programme has been going on for decades and continued even after the exit from the scene of A Q Khan, the disgraced father of Pakistan's nuclear programme.
New Delhi has also emphasised that any attempt to compare North Korea's test with India's nuclear detonations of 1998 would be 'ridiculous'. While North Korea has certain obligations as it is a signatory of safeguards agreement, India has till date not inked any such pact.
Besides, there is no element of clandestine proliferation in India's nuclear programme, which has been open and clear, officials said. India's strategic nuclear programme is known to everybody.
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