India alert on Sino-Pak N-deal, says Sushma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 17

The Sino-Pakistan nuclear pact today found an echo in Parliament with India expressing concern about the impact of the deal on global non-proliferation norms stating that New Delhi has raised the issue with Beijing on a number of occasions.

Asserting that the country was totally alert towards its interests, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Lok Sabha that the government remained committed to taking steps to safeguard India’s security interests. “We are fully alert towards our interests and will not allow any harm,” she said in response to a supplementary question that the nuclear pact was a cause of concern not just for India but the West too, amid doubts that once the new nuclear reactors become operational, the existing ones will be used to manufacture weapon-grade uranium.

This would also have an impact on countries wanting to invest here under the Make in India programme.

“The government remains concerned about the impact of the deal on global non-proliferation norms. The government believes that countries should abide by the commitments that they have undertaken in the field of nuclear non-proliferation,” she said.

The government, she said, was aware of the agreement through which China would supply two additional nuclear power reactors — Chashma-3 and Chashma-4 — to Pakistan. These reactors are under construction, in addition to Chashma-1 and 2 that are already in operation.

“The government is also aware of reports of an agreement for supply of additional reactors of Chinese origin to be built at Chashma, Karachi and a third site in Pakistan,” she said. India has kept raising the issue with China, she said.

The government has raised this issue in bilateral discussions with China, which maintains that its nuclear supplies to Pakistan were in accordance with its international obligations and were only for peaceful purposes, she said.

Being a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, China, she said, has the responsibility to ensure that safeguards were in place before exporting nuclear technology.