NEW DELHI: India’s defence minister hinted on Friday that New Delhi might change its “no
first use”
policy on
nuclear weapons, amid heightened tensions with fellow atomic power Pakistan.India committed in 1999 to not being the
first to use
nuclear weapons in any conflict. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made the comment on Twitter after visiting Pokhran, the site of India’s successful
nuclear tests in 1998 under then prime minister Atal Vajpayee.“Pokhran is the area which witnessed (Vajpayee’s) firm resolve to make
India a
nuclear power and yet remain firmly committed to the doctrine of ‘No
first Use’,” Singh wrote. “India has strictly adhered to this doctrine. What happens in future depends on the circumstances,” Singh tweeted.The statement comes as tensions rise with Pakistan after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped occupied Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomy, a move sharply condemned by Islamabad.Singh’s comments prompted considerable noise in both
India and Pakistan, with Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari tweeting that
India “need to stop lying”. She said: “India’s claims to NFU ended when on 4 Jan 2003 Indian govt declared it would use
nuclear weapons against any (even Chemical or Biological) attack ‘against
India or Indian forces anywhere’.”Observers said Singh’s statement is the clearest so far with regards to a change in India’s
nuclear doctrine. Vipin Narang, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, tweeted it was the “highest level declaration that
India may not feel indefinitely or absolutely bound to No
first Use.”Singh received support from Subramanian Swamy, a hardliner parliamentarian from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “First use is required now on if we get credible evidence that Pak faced with ignominy may go for
first strike. We must pre-empt that,” Swamy wrote.This is not the
first time that the Modi government has made a statement regarding its
nuclear policy. In 2016, then defence minister Manohar Parrikar had expressed his reservations over the “no
first use”
nuclear policy. Parrikar, who died last year, had said
India was a responsible
nuclear power and “it would not use it irresponsibly.”A revision to the
policy was part of the BJP’s election manifesto in 2014. Then front runner Modi, however, stated that if voted to power, he had no intention of
changing the stance.
أكثر...