Nuclear Disarmament

The world today is ravaged by wars and terror attacks leaving thousands of earthlings’ grief stricken. It has had a humongous impact on mother nature. During the cold war era, there was a race towards stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction which included nuclear war heads. U S and Russia were the two heavy weights in this nuclear arms race. 
 In due course many other countries like Britain, France developed nuclear technology. In order to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT) was proposed by Ireland and finland .It was opened for signature in 1968, 189 countries signed it. India, Pakistan, Israel and North korea are not parties to it. India did not sign the treaty as it was discriminatory in nature. However india’s nuclear policy shows that India has no intention of waging a nuclear war.
 India’s nuclear policy states the following
• Maintaining a credible minimum nuclear deterrence
• No first use
• Non use on non nuclear weapon states
• Voluntary moratorium on further nuclear tests
The contemporary world has become perilous and the threat of nuclear conflict has intensified. Nuclear technology in countries like Pakistan which is among the top ten countries in failed state index, should ring the alarm bells world over. In a country where government doesn’t have strong control on its territory could easily be a safe haven for terrorists. The commingling of terrorists and nuclear weapons will be a deadly mix to handle world over. It could lead to nuclear terrorism(NT). NT denotes the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in acts of terrorism. The situation in Pakistan merits immediate international attention. The whole world must come together and persuade Pakistan to forego their nuclear technology else all wear efforts to curb nuclear proliferation will turn into a damp squib.
 Nuclear weapons in Iran could lead to opening up of doors for the Middle -east to nuclear technology.
 The first step towards disarmament should start with US and Russia which together have nearly 5000 deployed nuclear war heads. Many steps have been taken in the past for reduction and regulation of nuclear warheads. Prominent among them are 
• SALT(Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) in 1972 to freeze ICBMs and SLBMs
• START in 1991
• SORT(Strategic Offensive reduction treaty) in 2002 to reduce nuclear warheads to 1700-2200 by 2012


However with the Bush regime(2000-2008) gave no heed to the treaties between US and Russia. Tensions heightened when US supported the NATO backed Georgia to confront Russia. However Obama seems to be making amends to the mistakes made by Bush. His visit to Russia (6-8 July 09) reignites the hopes that we are heading towards nuclear disarmament. Their respective leaders agreed to limits their warheads to 1675 respectively. As aptly said by Obama that every seed knows its time, the seed has been sown for nuclear disarmament and hopefully it begins to show results soon.

It’s Time for India

9/11 shook the world for US. It changed the complexion of USA. All of a sudden they went into a shell. Lakhs of people practicing Islam in US were detained as terror suspects and their self-respect was destroyed by their inhumane tortures violating all the human rights. Moving ahead , they launched a full fledged assault on Afghanistan and extended their war to Iraq and are now threatening to unleash another carnage on Iran.
India stands in complete contrast with US. We have weathered umpteen number of attacks and still have patience to wait for Pakistan to make amends. Though we have enough evidence to pin point the culprits we still refrain from taking stern action. Its time we change our foreign policy and take a aggressive stance. We are one of the leading economies in the world. We have the largest armies in the world. But still we keep our armies tied to their bases.
We are in a corridor of high risk. With two volatile nations(Pakistan, Bangladesh) at our door step. Its time we strengthen our entry points. We have been on the defensive for the past six decades. China’s string of pearls strategy threatens to isolate india from the world and can turn dangerous if not tackled. The fragile srilanka is just a stone’s throw away from our southernmost tip and we can expect any retaliatory attacks from factions like LTTE.
In these times, it’s imperative that India show its might on the army front. We need to showcase our military power to the world in order keep nations like china and US at bay. One of the best and apt ways is to attack Pakistan. This would help in capturing all the terror camps in Pakistan and bring the cross border terrorism to an end.
To take such tough decisions, we need to have young and dynamic people in the defence minister’s chair. People like A K Anthony are good for presiding over ceremonies. I am sure he will be found wanting in case of a war.