Congressman objects to dual use tech for India
Monday, 13 January 2003, 20:30 IST
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WASHINGTON: Leading U.S. Congressman Edward J. Markey has strongly objected to a Bush administration move to sell dual use technology to India, saying it will allow the country to make nuclear weapons. Markley, senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a letter to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans that although India is a U.S. ally it has not shown interest in ending its nuclear arms race with Pakistan. "While India is our ally, it has shown no interest in ending its nuclear and conventional arms race with Pakistan. Dual-use technology could allow India to miniaturise nuclear weapons for installation on missiles and to design nuclear submarines that could threaten any port in the world," said the letter. Markey, who is co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Non-Proliferation, also wondered why India should be rewarded for its bad behaviour. After all, the Congressman said, India is only one of the four countries that have refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Markey's objections come just a few days before India and the U.S. are scheduled to have talks on technology and missile issues. An inter-agency team from New Delhi headed by the Joint Secretary for Disarmament Sheelkant Sharma from the external affairs ministry is slated to be in Washington for the talks on January 15-16. Under Secretary of Commerce Kenneth I. Juster raised the prospect of opening sales of dual-use technologies to India in a joint statement in November 2002. While the U.S.-India statement indicated that no formal agreement was reached, it said such an agreement would be designed to encourage and increase "bilateral high technology trade, including trade in U.S. controlled dual-use items". Dual-use technology has both peaceful and military applications. Markey said India has explored both civilian and military uses of nuclear material since 1948 and detonated its first nuclear device in 1974. In 1998 India exploded six nuclear weapons, which resulted in U.S.-led economic and political sanctions. These sanctions have since been eased such that now only four Indian entities require export licenses. A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report that was released this week indicates that India has continued to advance its weapons programmes with assistance from Israel, Europe and, primarily, Russia. Markey wanted to know what technology was under consideration for sale to India and how it would be decided that selling this technology to India would not be counter to U.S. non-proliferation obligations. He also wondered what safeguards would be in place to preclude the use of this technology in India's pursuit of nuclear weapons? "Given our nation's interest in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, I do not believe that the U.S. should allow a nation that has thumbed its nose at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to obtain access to dual-use technology." "Why should we assist India in building better weapons that will further destabilise that region?" asked Markey in his letter to the commerce secretary.
Source: IANS
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