New Delhi
12 October 2006
New Delhi's position on the Washington-led Proliferation Security
Initiative (PSI) is expected to come under strain as the United States goes about
mobilising international opinion to push for a series of punitive measures including
inspection of cargo to and from North Korea. Those measures are contained in a draft
United Nations Security Council resolution.
Opinion in the Indian strategic circles remains divided on the issue of India's
participation in the PSI. Some critics maintain that it skirts certain core issues of
immediate concern to India while others insist that the deployment of Indian Navy assets
for interdiction activities would degrade their operational capabilities with serious
consequences for South Asian security and the strategic capabilities.
(Media reports suggest South Korea has deliberately avoided taking any decision on
associating itself with the PSI.)
Certain analysts have also suggested that the US record on anti-proliferation measures
is tainted and cite Washington's indifferent attitude towards the proliferation activities in
South Asia as a case in point. According to a Delhi-based thinktank, "[Washington] turned
a blind eye towards the blatant nuclear weapons and missile technology transfers from
China to Pakistan thereby acquiescing in the covert development of Islamabad's atomic
arsenal by Beijing. The US took no punitive measures against Pakistan for proliferating
dangerous technology to Libya, Iraq, Iran and North Korea for over twenty years in
exchange for IRBM technology."
For its part, Washington is pressing for New Delhi's participation because of a
recognition there that the Indian Navy had to be brought on board to give vibrancy and
credibility to the PSI. This newspaper has reported that India's participation is high on
the United States agenda and that the Indian Navy has been pinpointed by the Pentagon
as a "credible partner" for the US in its search for weapons of mass destruction on the
high seas.
Observers tracking the India-United States nuclear deal cite the relevant portion of the
"United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Bill", which was voted upon by
the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to suggest that India's sovereignty was
being sought to be shackled by using nuclear proliferation as argument. The Bill calls for
India's full participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative.
US President George W Bush unveiled the PSI on May 31, 2003 at Krakow in Poland.
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