New Delhi
28 May 2008
One or more of the former Cold War warriors -- Henry Kissinger, George Schultz,
William Perry and Sam Nunn -- are likely to visit India later this year to press for
practical steps to reduce dependence on nuclear weapons and begin the journey to their
eventual elimination.
Their visit at the "beginning of winter", as a source put it, coupled with a two-day
international conference India is hosting here on June 9 and 10, can be expected to
impart a new momentum to late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's Peace Plan.
Twenty years ago, on June 9, 1988, Mr Gandhi delivered a speech, entitled "A world free
of nuclear weapons", at a special session of the United Nations in New York. It called
universal disarmament and total elimination of weapons of mass destruction.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the conference, having the theme
"Towards a world free of nuclear weapons". Minister of External Affairs Pranab
Mukherjee, United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Sergio de
Queiroz Duarte and other invitees from the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia,
China, Australia, Norway and Nepal are expected to participate in it.
Lt Gen (Retd) VR Raghavan, an adviser of Delhi Policy Group and a former director
general, military operations, said the issue of disarmament has seen a revival and it
has evoked a great deal of interest at home and abroad.
"Rajiv Gandhi was ahead of his time but there is a revival of that mood," Lt Gen
Raghavan said when contacted for a comment. According to him, the mood in India is
changing, too, and the initiatives taken by India in 1988 and now are "laudable and
desirable".
"India would be well-advised to join the new mood or activism," he said, asserting that
disarmament is in India's strategic interest. He acknowledged the technicalities or the
process of global disarmament is complicated and it will take time but he sensed the
world is at the threshold of a "major global initiative".
A source, who did not want to be named, in turn, said New Delhi will follow up on the
international conference by undertaking similar initiatives in the future. For one, it
intends to invite the foursome of Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, William Perry and
Sam Nunn, to India later this year.
In an article published by Wall Street Journal in January this year, entitled "Toward a
nuclear-free world", the foursome said the accelerating spread of nuclear weapons,
nuclear know-how and nuclear material has brought the world to a "nuclear tipping point".
"We face a very real possibility that the deadliest weapons ever invented could fall into
dangerous hands. The steps we are taking now to address these threats are not
adequate to the danger," they said. The foursome wrote a similar article in 2007, in
which they argued the same points.
Mr Shultz was secretary of state from 1982 to 1989. Mr Perry was secretary of defence
from 1994 to 1997. Mr Kissinger was secretary of state from 1973 to 1977. Mr Nunn is
former chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
Meanwhile, writing in The Australian newspaper, a former Aussie diplomat Rory Medcalf
has said India's restrained nuclear posture and her rekindled interest in disarmament
offer diplomatic openings for countries seeking new approaches to arms control.
"[The] world has little to lose and potentially much to gain by seeking creative ways to
fully engage this key power of the 21st century while putting its reincarnated nuclear
idealism to the test," Mr Medcalf wrote.
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