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Pak link in N Korea test a worry: India
The test is to dominate PM's parleys abroad, report Aloke Tikku and Nilova Roy Choudhary. Speak up ...
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s six-day visit to the United Kingdom and Finland which began on Monday was to focus on trade, terrorism and civil nuclear cooperation. But on the first day, the nuclear test conducted by North Korea overshadowed them all.
India criticised the test with Navtej Sarna, spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry, speaking against "the dangers of clandestine proliferation". The reference was as much to Pakistan as it was to North Korea.
Pakistani scientist AQ Khan has been accused of clandestinely sharing nuclear technology with North Korea. India’s position is that the secret association between North Korea and Pakistan continued even after AQ Khan's misdemeanours were exposed.
"Our more immediate concern relates to this association with Pakistan," said a senior official who accompanied the prime minister. He added that the implications of the nuclear test would figure high on the agenda when Singh and British Prime Minister Tony Blair met on Tuesday morning.
India’s reaction expressing “deep concern” came minutes before Singh was to leave the country. But Indian officials said the developments in Pyongyang would not significantly change the agenda of the tour.
Officials said India had begun getting in touch with “interested” countries, including China and Japan, to evaluate the initial information trickling in on the test and assess its repercussions. One such repercussion could well be a slowdown in the US legislative changes which are needed to carry through the Indo-US nuclear deal. However Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi, reacting to the test, said the North Korean test would have no bearing on the deal since India had "an impeccable non-proliferation record".
It can also impact the dialogue with members of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) that Singh intends to hold during the six-day trip. Nearly half the NSG members are from the European Union. The prime minister will meet them at the EU-India summit in Helsinki later this week.
A senior official said it was “ridiculous” to compare India’s Pokhran II with the Pyongyang test. But he said the “broader political climate in which these things take place” could be affected. The fear is that some countries may be unwilling to soften their positions on India's nuclear programme at a time when North Korea has gone ahead with its test.
“But as long as the two cases are seen as different, we do not see any problem, said a senior official. In conducting its tests, India had not violated any commitments because it made none. “Our programme was transparent and legitimate,” the official said.
In its formal reaction to the nuclear tests, India said it was "unfortunate" the test was conducted "in violation of its international commitments, jeopardising peace, stability and security on the Korean peninsula and in the region.
