HVK Archives: India as a superpower is absurd assumption: Helms
India as a superpower is absurd assumption: Helms - The Times of India
Ramesh Chandran
()
May 15, 1998
Title: India as a superpower is absurd assumption: Helms
Author: Ramesh Chandran
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 15, 1998
"As long as there is breath in me, I will never support the
lifting of the Glenn Amendment sanctions on India unless they
abandon all nuclear ambitions," thundered Senator Jesse Helms on
Thursday.
Mr Helms gave the warning during an unexpected appearance at the
senate foreign relations subcommittee on near-Eastern and South
Asian affairs hearing on the Indian nuclear tests and their
effect on U.S-India relations. The hearing vehemently attacked
India for this week's five underground nuclear tests at Pokhran.
Senator Helms, the much-feared and omnipotent chairman of the
senate foreign relations committee, is perceived as a recently
converted admirer of India. But he was in an uncompromising mood
as he tore into the reasons for India's five nuclear tests,
saying, "The Indian government has not shot itself in the foot -
it has most likely shot itself in the head."
A blue-ribbon panel of senators assembled swiftly to participate
in the hearing headed by the Republican senator from Kansas, Sam
Brownback. Apart from Mr Jesse Helms, other heavyweight senators
who attended the hearing were Charles Robb, Dianne Feinstein, Rod
Grams, Joseph Biden and Chuck Hagel. The hearing had been
postponed once before and was originally meant to be a fuzzy
affair - meant to warmly endorse the ever-strengthening Indo-U.S.
ties. The original testimonies were meant to be provided by
assistant secretary Karl Inderfurth, Marshal Bouton of the Asia
Society and professor Francine Frank.
Following New Delhi's dramatic announcement however, the last two
were swiftly replaced by four others - Robert Einhom, deputy
assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation, James
Woolsey, former CIA director, Fred C. Ikle, former director of
the U.S. arms control and disarmament agency, and Stephen Solarz,
former Congressman. The hearing then acquired kilotons of
explosiveness of its own. Rarely has a country come in for as
savage a lashing as India got at this hearing. The closest
parallels to such seething condemnation have been Libya, Iraq and
Iran during the hostage crisis.
Senator Helms, in his crustiest mood, charged that the Indian
government hard "deluded itself into the absurd assumption that
the possession of nuclear weapons wig make India superpower, at a
time when hundreds of millions of India's people are in poverty;
the fact is that India is tangled in economic knots, disease and
misery are rampant - hence the absurd assumption that a big boom
will make them a big power."
Senator Brownback alleged, "India's lack of restraint is a signal
to the rogues of the world that they too can flout international
opinion and international norms," adding that there was "no way
of sugar-coating this shocking event." Mr Brownback exhorted the
international community to join the U.S. in imposing strict
economic sanctions against India.
Senator Joseph Biden Jr opined that "India's claim for global
leadership and its bid for the United Nations security council
seat will certainly suffer because of an act that so clearly
violates an international norm," adding, "If India thought that
demonstrating its nuclear knowhow would enhance its prestige, it
thought wrong. These tests have stained India's reputation as a
responsible member of the international community."
However Senator Biden qualified his criticism to address one
difference - that despite its "miscalculation", India "is not a
rogue state". "India is not a Libya, a North Korea or an Iraq. It
is the world's largest democracy and it is a country with which
we share much in common. A country of India's size, importance
and stature cannot be isolated forever. We will have to engage
India." He suggested that India can undo some of the damage by
signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-
proliferation Treaty "immediately and without conditions".
Senator Charles Robb maintained that Indian officials have badly
miscalculated the overall effect and strategic implications of
moving forward with their nuclear programme. "Sadly," he
emphasised, "they have moved India closer to being ostracised in
the world community rather than being welcomed as a member of the
nuclear club."
Whilst most members commended President Bill Clinton's tough
measures by imposing sweeping sanctions against India, Fred
Ickle, former undersecretary of defence for policy, in the Reagan
administration, outlined in sarcastic tones that Mr Clinton will
now try to "cajole" India into signing the CTBT and perhaps "some
compromise" will be added to the treaty language - a compromise
sweetened with new American computer sales to India, more
technical assistance, more aid. When the CTBT is signed by India,
it will be presented by the White House press office as a victory
over proliferation. "And by the way, we will have taught a lesson
to Pakistan, to Iran, to every aspirant for building nuclear
bombs, Go ahead!" Mr Ickle taunted, terming the whole affair a
charade.
Mr Karl Inderfurth, assistant secretary of state for South Asian
affairs who has been the state department's pointsman in much of
the middle-level negotiations in dealing with India and Pakistan
and was considered a refreshing change from his predecessor,
Robin Raphel, said he was "deeply disappointed" and compelled to
deliver a testimony that was far different from the one he had
originally envisioned. He said that punitive measures would be
swift and decisive. Besides the withholding of $ 143 million as
development assistance under the Glenn Amendment which was being
invoked for the first time, the U.S. would oppose loans and
assistance in the international financial institutions, which may
cost India "billions of dollars of desperately needed financing
for. infrastructure and other projects."
Mr Inderfurth also stressed that the prohibition on loans by U.S.
banks to the government of India and on EXIM and OPIC activities
could cost "hundreds of millions of dollars" and affect projects
that have been approved or are in the pipeline, which could cause
major U.S. companies and financial institutions to rethink
entirely their presence and operations in India.
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