Army must be re-assured on Pokhran-II yield: Malik

Amid claims by some scientists that Pokhran-II in 1998 were not a complete success, former Army chief V P Malik has said that the armed Forces were 'affected' by doubts over its efficacy and needed to be 're-assured' by the nuclear establishment on the exact yield of the atomic tests.

Malik also said the statement by former president A P J Abdul Kalam, the DRDO chief when India exploded the bombs in 1998, rubbishing the claims of his colleague and defence scientist Dr K Santhanam, was 'unconvincing'.

"They (Armed Forces) need to be reassured about the weapon system they use and about the planning of what kind of the yield they have when they hit the target," Malik, the army chief during Pokhran-II, told Karan Thapar on the Devil's Advocate programme of CNN-IBN.

Malik dubbed as shocking the recent comments of Santhanam, questioning the yield of the thermonuclear device tested on May 11, 1998.

"Yes, it affects the armed forces. Particularly, because, when they plan the task given to them then they have to know what kind of yield that each nuclear weapon has," he said stressing that it was important to remove doubts.

"Let us not forget that Dr Santhanam was part of his (Kalam's) team. And it came as quite a shock with Dr Santhanam himself mentioning that it was a fizzle. Of course, again he was referring to the thermonuclear weapon. So, Dr Kalam's statement was not quite convincing," he said.

Malik said the team of scientists led by then Chairman of the Atomic Energy commission R Chidambaram should reassure the armed forces on the yield of the weapons.

Image: A file photograph of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Defence Minister George Fernandes at the site of the nuclear test in Pokhran on May 20, 1998