INDIA 11 May 2008 India observes 10th anniversary of Pokharan II nuclear tests

As the debate continues and the government hangs in imbalance over the Indo-United States nuclear deal, India observes the 10th anniversary of Pokharan-II or Operation Shakthi. These refer to test explosions of five nuclear devices, three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998, conducted by India at the Pokhran test range. They resulted in sanctions against India by a number of states, including the United States.

The Government of India has not planned to observe the 10th anniversary of Pokhran test in a grand way. But the Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition party, has plans to observe since it was then in power during the nuclear tests explosions.  

Pokharan- I was conducted on 18 May 1974 when the late Congress Party prime minister Indira Gandhi was in power. The tests were an awakening for the US intelligence sources, including the Central Intelligence Agency, as they had failed to predict another Pokharan. It is to be noted that the then-ruling party in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party, had promised to explode nuclear device before it came to power in the election campaigns. Pakistan followed with a nuclear explosion and was subjected to the same sanctions.

One of the main achievements as declared by the Manmohan Singh-headed United Progressive Alliance government in India over the present nuclear deal is that India can keep its nuclear weapons without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and could explode nuclear device without interference. On 2 Mar 2006 when President Bush visited New Delhi, India provided such a separation plan among other things to attain "full nuclear cooperation" with the United States, including an assurance of uninterrupted fuel supply to all the civilian nuclear facilities in India. However, all these assurances suffered a setback when the US Congress passed the Henry J Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006 in December.

Now the whole debate hangs in India over the safety of its nuclear reactors and the sovereignty of the nuclear programmers. Opposing voices over the deal come not only from the opposition parties like BJP but also from the ruling coalition partners. These include the left parties like the Communist Party of India (Marxists). With the help of the Communist party only the present UPA government is surviving. The Communists parties have threatened to pull out from the government if the UPA goes ahead with the deal. The government in India hangs in "imbalance.” UPDATED Feb/08

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY NEWSAHEAD CORRESPONDENT C.BALAJI, WHO IS AVAILABLE FOR FREELANCE ASSIGNMENTS IN INDIA AND THE REGION. email: mohan balaji

RELATED READING:

India nuclear tests condemned by US, Pakistan (CNN 11 May 1998)
http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9805/11/india.nuclear.update/

Beyond Pokharan II (The Indian Express 11 May 1999)
http://www.expressindia.com/news/fe/daily/19990511/fex10031.html

The United States Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act (US government)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/12/20061218-2.html