Home  |  Web Resources  |  Free Advertising

Change Your Life!

Indian PM says peace lies in strength

News
Sports
Chat
Travel
Dhaka Today
Yellow Pages
Higher Education
Ask a Doctor
Weather
Currency Rate
Horoscope
E-Cards
B2K Poll
Comment on the Site
B2K Club

September 23, 2000 

NEW DELHI, SEPT 22 (AP) - India's nuclear weapons program is based on the tenet that peace and strength are compatible, and India's security is crucial to Asian stability, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said in an article published Friday.

Following up on his successful state visit to the United States, Vajpayee wrote in the International Herald Tribune that India wants a world free of weapons of mass destruction, but security must mean "equal security for all."

As long as some states have nuclear weapons "our experience has taught us that peace lies in strength," Vajpayee wrote.

"The security of 1 billion Indians is central to Asia's security and stability," said Vajpayee, who returned Tuesday night from his 13-day U.S. visit.

Washington and New Delhi disagree on nuclear nonproliferation and President Bill Clinton imposed economic sanctions when India, then Pakistan, tested nuclear weapons in May 1998. Clinton has said that the nuclear tests, and the constant fighting between India and Pakistan across their borders makes South Asia the world's most dangerous place.

"Disagreement on some issues should not constitute division" between he world's two largest democracies," Vajpayee wrote. "Peace and strength are not incompatible."

He urged others to adopt India's "sense of responsibility and transparency as "a nuclear weapons state." He said, "No armies from India have stepped out to conquer and dominate others."

He said the principles of India's nuclear policy are: a moratorium on explosive tests, a policy of "no first use" of nuclear weapons, and "a willingness to engage with other countries on all aspects of security."

Vajpayee said India and the United States have agreed that "as our dialogue proceeds, we will listen with respect to teach other and seek to accommodate our mutual concerns."

He urged routine, frequent contacts between the two "natural allies."

Clinton's visit to India in March followed a gap of 22 years since the last previous presidential trip. "In the fast-changing world in which we live, even 22 months is an unacceptable interruption," Vajpayee wrote.