Date : 28/01/2012
By Pankaj Yadav
NEW DELHI, Jan 28 (KUNA) -- India will continue to spearhead the campaign
internationally for universal nuclear disarmament and getting rid of the ills
of possessing "useless" weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) world over, a
report prepared by Indian Prime Minister's Group on Universal Nuclear
Disarmament has stated.
The Group consists of leading Indian luminaries, including ambassadors and
security experts, and is headed by a close aide of former Indian Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi (the late husband of present Congress president Sonia
Gandhi) Mani Shankar Ayar, also a parliamentarian par excellence.
The report said: "India must continue to pursue its version of a
non-nuclear world since a Nuclear-Weapons-Free-World would be good for the
planet, good for the region (read South Asia) and for India's national
security."
Delving on the India-Pakistan squabble leading to a possible Nuclear War,
the Group said that India would make every possible effort to convince
Pakistan about the "uselessness" of possessing the Nuclear weapons.
Acknowledging that Pakistan was blocking the path for universal nuclear
disarmament, Dr Manpreet Sethi, a member of the Group, said: "We need to build
pressure on Pakistan on no-first-use of Nuclear weapons, we need to show it
the dangers of use of N-weapons, and we need to show Pakistan that there is no
military utility of WMDs for both."
The PM's Group on Universal Nuclear Disarmament was set up in October 2010
on the guidelines of the "Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan, 1988", presented by former
PM (Rajiv Gandhi) to the Third Special Session on Disarmament of the UN
General Assembly in June 1988. In its Report, the Group emphasized that India
is a "unique" state with Nuclear Weapons committed to time-bound elimination
of nuclear weapons the world over.
Appreciating the recommendations of the Report, the country's External
Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna: "the Nuclear disarmament continues to be an
important element of our foreign policy at various multilateral fora,
including the UN, NAM (non-aligned movement) and the Conference on Disarmament.
"
Hailing the Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan, 1988, Group's Chairman Mani Shankar
Aiyar said that even after more than two decades it remains the "most
detailed, practical and persuasive of any official roadmap towards ridding the
world of these dreadful WMDs and eventually anchoring such a world without
nuclear weapons in the principles and practice of non-violence. (end)
py.gta
KUNA 280950 Jan 12NNNN