HVK Archives: US targeting Vajpayee regime
US targeting Vajpayee regime - The Observer
Dina Nath Mishra
()
May 28, 1998
Title: US targeting Vajpayee regime
Author: Dina Nath Mishra
Publication: The Observer
Date: May 28, 1998
It is not correct to think that those, who are feeling proud and
elated for five nuclear tests, do not understand what nuclear
arsenals means for the fate of humanity at large. It is for that
reason India was the first country to call for the abolition of
all nuclear weapons 40 years ago.
As against that, the five-member nuclear club wanted to set up
non-proliferation regime to stop horizontal but not vertical
proliferation. In the last two decades, nuclear arsenals of five
"haves" grew three-fold in terms of quantity and ten-fold in
terms of quality.
Thirteen years ago US President Ronald Reagan and the then USSR
President Mikhail Gorbachev said that nuclear war cannot be won
and must not be fought. India's position was clear that it would
agree to ban tests if USA agreed to a time table for total
elimination of nuclear weapons. Nothing of that short happened.
On the contrary, there has been attempts to impose a hegemonistic
nuclear regime by means of Comprehensive Treaty Ban Treaty,
Fissile Material Control Treaty and Missile Technology Control
Treaty. It is nothing less than nuclear apartheid.
What surprised more It the fact that US turned its back when
China gave Pakistan missile and nuclear technology in bits and
parts. It turned a blind eye when China and France had nuclear
tests in recent years. A situation was being created to force
India to sign on CTBT's dotted lines. India is among three
countries which has not signed on it as yet.
India understands the dangers of proliferation, but nuclear
"haves" don't want to appreciate India's threat perceptions. They
are aware of India's security threat. For example, report of the
annual US Congress Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional
Warfare released in April this year says that Pakistan's nuclear
plans are closely linked with its strategy of fomenting terrorism
and ion in India's border states.
The director of the US Congress Task Force Youssef Bodansky has
said In his report that Pakistan threatens "to strike a heavy
blow against India through its nuclear capability. It maintains
that "the strategic logic of using the nuclear factor to offset
any deficiencies in conventional military power has been the
cornerstone of Pakistan's nuclear strategy." It also makes it
clear that 'Pakistan's call for Jihad in Kashmir was motivated
more by furtherance of strategic interests of Islamabad and
Tehran than for the liberation of Kashmir.
The US probably can't appreciate the kind of animosity with which
Pakistan was born 50 year back. It has a content of neighbourly
rivalry fortified, with a stiff dose of Islamic Jihad and
fundamentalism. They cannot forget that Muslims once ruled over
India. Again the 'unfinished task of partition' - wresting back
J&K - continues to be Pakistan's agenda number one against India.
Just after the partition, Pakistan sent its army to conquer J&K.
It succeeded in conquering one-third of it. It attacked India
again in 1965. After the Tashkent pact, Indian army returned from
the borders of Lahore.
During the freedom struggle of Bangladesh, Pakistani army was
defeated at the hands of Indian army. Just after that then Prime
Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto started Pakistan's nuclear
programmes. He declared that Pakistan would go for the Islamic
Bomb.
For last two decades, Pakistan has aided and abetted terrorism In
Punjab and J&K. Even today proxy war is going on in J&K. Not only
it poses security threat along the border, but to the internal
security also through its network of ISI.
China continued its collusion with Pakistan m the nuclear field
to attain prowess without penalties from the NPT advocates.
China's sustained aggressive policy signals that India could not
afford to ignore intrusions across the LOC, or its refusal to
resolve the boundary problem, or its continuing claims on
Arunachal Pradesh and increasing hold on Myanmar.
China has not recognised Sikkim as a part of India. India has
problem of secessionist militancy in a number of North-Eastern
states. China has a lot to do with their training and arming. In
1962, India had a humiliating defeat at the hands of Chinese in
North-Eastern border Today China is much bigger a power
comparable to that of US and Russia.
In this connection I would like to quote from a letter written by
the then home minister late Ballabh Bhai Patel on November 7,
1950: "Chinese ambitions in this respect not only cover the
Himalayan slopes on our side but also include important parts of
Assam... They have their ambitions in Burma also... Our northern
or north-eastern approaches consist of Bhutan, Sikkim, Darjeeling
and the tribal areas in Assam.... During the last three years, we
have not been able to make any appreciable approaches to the
Nagas and other hill tribes in Assam."
Whether western powers appreciate In than threat perceptions or
not, India has to guard its security interest, specially when
large part of its territories are under the control of Pakistan
and China and their designs on Indian territory are pronounced.
Under the circumstances, India should have gone nuclear much
earlier. But its rulers could not gather the courage to
withstand the US economic sanctions.
America changes rulers in Third World countries at its
convenience. In many countries American support is essential for
the survival of a government. In India, BJP has never been liked
by the US establishment. As much can be read in its covert
attempt to boost the campaign of Soma Gandhi in the last
elections for obvious reasons.
Now that the BJP-led government has conducted the nuclear tests,
it has become an eye sore for the US. A humiliated Clinton
administration has devised a three-pronged strategy - (a)
Economic sanctions against India, (b) Arming Pakistan to teach
India a lesson, (c) Remove Vajpayee government as early as
possible.
June 1, 1998 issue of "Newsweek" carried a write-up which
concluded with the following lines: "Sources in the Vajpayee
government say that during President Clinton's scheduled visit in
November, they are willing to discuss signing the CTBT, the
spirit of which they so resoundingly shattered with five nuclear
explosions. In return, they would expect a lifting of all
sanctions. But this rosy scenario rests on one big assumption:
that Clinton will not cancel the summit and wait for a more
predictable party to take power in India."
It is a known fact that CIA, US administration and US media have
certain level of synchronisation. Toppling the Vajpayee
government may well be high on the US agenda. The entire Indian
opposition has of late changed gear from welcoming the tests to
criticising it.
The Vajpayee government may well be advised to guard against
security threat perceptions as well as combined political threat
>from within and without.
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