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Make India a partner in US's goals, says Pallone

Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone has asked the Clinton administration to recognise India's status as a nuclear power before evolving its policy of non-proliferation and peace for the region.

''Our goal should be to make India a partner in the American foreign policy goal of minimising the threat of nuclear war. One way of accomplishing this is to take the long overdue step of accepting India as a permanent member of the UN Security Council,'' he said in a statement in Washington last night.

He said, ''We need to shift our focus from simply condemning India for becoming a nuclear power -- which, whether we like it or not, is the reality -- to adjusting our thinking to this new reality and working to promote peace, security, confidence building and non-proliferation in South Asia.''

He said, ''One of the key factors that has been overlooked in our narrow India-Pakistan focus is the role of China. I believe that China is the real threat to India, as well as to US interests and to regional security. It is in this context India's potential role as a partner for peace and stability should be understood,'' he added.

''In particular, India has legitimate concerns about China's support for Pakistan's nuclear and missile programmes, as well as potential Chinese designs on Indian territory,'' Pallone added.

Pallone said, ''Since the US must also view China as a potential adversary, there is a growing convergence of American and Indian objectives for responding to China.''

He cited a recent report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies' South Asia programme, which noted that India and Pakistan are beginning to define ''minimum deterrence,'' in similar ways.

The Congressman said the US should work to build on this emerging notion of minimum deterrence, combined with a declared policy of non-first-use of nuclear weapons.

He also expressed agreement with some of the views expressed by Tariq Rauf, director of the International Organisations, a non-proliferation project at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, who sees Washington opting for a strategy of greater accommodation in its negotiations with both India and Pakistan, recognising that neither nation is likely to give up its nuclear weapons.

Rauf has said that India, as well as pakistan, should not only be encouraged, but assisted, to consider a variety of bilateral and multilateral discussions and agreements ''to maintain their current tacit non-deployment practices regarding nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.''

Rauf's emphasis is on ''pragmatic arms control strategies that focus on accommodation, not appeasement or confrontation.''

Pallone said, ''The key is to make India a partner for peace, and not to isolate India and further contribute to the perception that India's legitimate security concerns are not receiving adequate attention or respect.''

UNI

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