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Irresponsible India & NSG’s credibility

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Since 2010, India is asserting to be member of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) which was established in 1975. NSG is a multilateral export control regime and a group of nuclear supplier countries that seek to prevent nuclear proliferation by controlling the export of materials, equipment and technology that can be used to manufacture  nuclear weapons. The NSG has two sets of guidelines listing the specific nuclear materials, equipment, and technologies that are subject to export controls. The first set of guideline was published in 1978 in response to Indian diversion of nuclear imports to conduct a nuclear explosion in 1974. These include fissile materials, nuclear reactors and equipment, and reprocessing and enrichment equipment. Second set identifies dual-use goods; non-nuclear items with legitimate civilian applications that can also be used to develop weapons. Presently, there are 48 members including powers like China, Canada, France, Germany, Russia and U.S however nuclear countries like India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan.

Despite support from many powers for Indian membership to the NSG since 2010, India has not been able get the much awaited membership. Again in June 2016, NSG meeting India was supported for acceptance of membership although failed as it could not master support from all of the participating states. Despite absence of enough votes, India does not have moral, technical, legal and geo-political position to get the membership. India has failed number of times not only to safeguard its Uranium but is also involved in its smuggling. Apart from failure to protect nuclear material India has even miserably failed to use, track and monitor the flight of its nuclear capable missiles.

A few of the incidents highlighting and advocating the Indian catastrophe are mentioned below:- On March 9, an Indian missile, reportedly a BrahMos, crossed into Pakistani territory and flew for over 120 kilometers and over 3 minutes before landing in Mian Channu in Pakistan which caused uproar in Islamabad. India admitted that on 11 March 22, 2022 it had accidentally fired a missile into Pakistan this week because of a “technical malfunction” during routine maintenance, giving its version of events after Pakistan summoned India’s envoy to protest (Reuters, March 12, 20221:36 AM GMT+5).Authorities said the incident not only damaged civilian property but also engendered human lives on the ground. It asked India to be “mindful of the unpleasant consequences” of such negligence.

On February 15, 2022, two Indians were among eight persons arrested in Kathmandu for smuggling 2.5 kilograms of uranium which were brought from India to be sold illegally in Nepal(All India Press Trust of India Updated: February 15, 2022 10:43 pm IST). On June 3, 2021, Indian police arrested seven people and seized 6.4 kilogrammes of uranium from their possession in the eastern state of Jharkhand in Bokaro district (Abhishek Angad | Ranchi | June 4, 2021 4:39:20 am). As recently as in early 2018, a uranium smuggling racket was busted by the Kolkata police with one kilogram of radioactive material. The smugglers were reportedly trying to sell uranium worth about $440,000 (Strategic Fore Sight For Asia, Nuclear Trafficking in India, 8 Jun 2021) In December 2016, around 9 kg of radioactive uranium was seized from two persons in Thane(All India Indo-Asian News Service Updated: December 21, 2016 11:40 pm IST).

In December 2015, the Centre for Public Integrity had reported an incident at the residential complex adjacent to the Madras Atomic Power Station, to draw global attention to the security hazards and breaches around the Indian nuclear establishments (Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, 2015, ORF, India). In 2013, leftist guerillas in northeast India illegally obtained uranium ore from a government-run milling complex in northeast India and strapped it to high explosives to make a crude bomb (India is not adequately safeguarding its booming nuclear installations and material, U.S. officials and experts say, Adrian Levy and R. Jeffrey Smith). In 2008, another criminal gang was caught attempting to smuggle   uranium from one of India’s state-owned mines across the border to Nepal (Parkash Nanda,Indian defence Revie, Dec, 2015).

In 2008, another group was caught moving an illicit stock of uranium over the border to Bangladesh, the gang having been assisted by (India’s nuclear explosive materials are vulnerable to theft, U.S. officials and experts, Adrian Levy and R. Jeffrey Smith, December 17, 2015). In December 2006, a container packed with radioactive material was stolen from a fortified research facility in eastern India (Times of India, Dec 24, 2006, 02:04 IST). In 2003, Indian security forces caught a group in a village on the Bangladesh border with 225 grams of milled uranium (Parkash Nanda, Indian defence Revie, Dec, 2015).  In August 2001, police in the Indian state of West Bengal arrested two men with more than 200 grams of uranium (DND, India, 2021). In July 1998, the CBI unearthed a major racket in theft of uranium in Tamil Nadu, with the seizure of over eight kg of the nuclear material (Modern Diplomacy, July, 2018).

In June 1998 Police in the Indian state of West Bengal, arrested an opposition politician who they say was carrying more than 100 kilograms of uranium (https://www.matrixmag.com/smuggling-of-indian-uranium-western-duplicity/).

In November 1994, Meghalaya Police seized 2.5 kg of uranium from a gang of four smugglers in the Domiasiat region (S. Biswas, November 15, 1994, UPDATED: July 17, 2013 15:11 IST). Cross border smuggling and theft of over 200 kilograms of uranium; nuclear material during last two decades in India poses serious threats of nuclear terrorism, necessitating the global powers’ role to raise safety standards in India. Experts on nuclear safeguards should urge the International Atomic Energy Agency to place strict surveillance system over radio-active materials in India.

The experts asked whether Indian and western media would have remained silent had someone arrested elsewhere with radioactive materials, so to speak Pakistan. In comparison to Pakistan where no single such incident took place and at least 20 such incidents of nuclear material cross border smuggling and theft and lost were reported in India from 1994 to 2021. This indicates that India has emerged as a potential hotspot in illegal trade of N-technology and materials, the experts said.”What does this say about their safety mechanisms and the technical prowess of very dangerous weapons? The international community needs to be very critical about Indian nuclear securities and must not allow to India to join Nuclear Supplier Group.

“The official added. India and Pakistan both have nuclear weapons, and military experts have repeatedly warned of the risk of miscalculation or nuclear accidents”. The two countries swerved dangerously close to a full-out war in 2019, when India launched an airstrikes across the Line of Control and Pakistan responded by hitting three Indian aircrafts and capturing the pilots. Indian ferocious incidents as that of March 9, 2022 where an Indian missile, reportedly a BrahMos, crossed into Pakistani territory not only have started a war between two arch rivals that could have put the global peace in jeopardy. Indian Uncontrolled missile flying at the height of 40,000 feet could have hit commercial airplanes flying over Pakistan which could have geo-political implications in region and beyond.

The write is Ph.D in  International Relations & Fellow Research Member with Pakistan Navy War College

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