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Deploy Prithvi to offset Ghauri, says Jasjit Singh

India should deploy in adequate numbers, the indigenously developed Prithvi missile to counter the threat emanating from the recent test-firing of the Ghauri missile by Pakistan, according to defence analyst Jasjit Singh.

Initiating a discussion on 'Response to Pakistan's test-firing of Ghauri' in New Delhi on Tuesday evening, Air Commodore Jasjit Singh, director of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, said, ''There is no cause for concern, leave alone alarm'' in the light of the recent developments across the border, but added, ''We have a right to self-defence, and the Prithvi missile which is more than adequate to offset the threat, must be deployed in adequate numbers.''

Talking about the 'stark impact' on Indian security, he said, "There is no defence against ballistic missiles.'' He felt India was at least 40 years away from developing an anti-ballistic defence and in the present strategic scenario in the subcontinent, the only option for New Delhi was to have deterrent capability.

''The 250-km range Prithvi missile is more than adequate, and must be deployed in large numbers to ward off any potential threat,'' he commented.

Singh, who has been appointed by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government as convener of the task force on the formation of the National Security Council, dismissed Islamabad's claim of the 1,500-km range Ghauri missile (Hatf-V) being developed indigenously, and said all evidence in the public domain pointed that it had been supplied by China.

''For seven-and-a-half years, there has been evidence that China has been supplying ballistic missiles to Pakistan,'' he said, and recalled the statement of the then Chinese ambassador in Washington in June 1991, admitting that Beijing had given short-range ballistic missiles to Islamabad.

Singh questioned the capability of Pakistan's scientific and technological base to produce a missile of the genre of Ghauri.

''A ballistic missile with a range of more than 1,000 km goes into outer space and requires a very sophisticated re-entry technology to be able to hit the target after saving itself from tremendous vibrations,'' he explained, and asked, ''Does Pakistan have the scientific base to develop such a missile?'' He also doubted that any country would dare to test-fire an untested missile across populated areas.

''Security experts like me are looking towards China's ongoing military modernisation because it has a spin-off effect on Pakistan,'' he stressed.

The IDSA director felt the test-firing of Ghauri raised certain critical issues rather than those revolving around Indo-Pak relations. ''A ballistic missile has tremendous political and psychological, besides military, impact.''

''It was the continuous firing of missiles by Iraq that made Teheran buckle under pressure during their long-drawn war in the eighties,'' he said, adding, ''The nuclear component cannot be ignored, but the impact of conventional warheads can also be tremendous.''

While emphasising on 'deterrence' with ballistic defence not in sight, Singh called upon the political leadership to adopt the required public posturing. "We do not need any props to justify our defence preparation. On the foreign policy front, we have been more interested in relationships rather than national interest,'' he opined.

Singh also called for mixing diplomatic efforts with military responses.

He felt India should press for missile disarmament and call for universalisation of the INF treaty signed by the United States and the former Soviet Union.

The defence expert lamented that lately, India had not pressed for disarmament at various world fora. ''Nuclear disarmament will also serve India's security. In the interim, we have to weaponise,'' he said, justifying the 'doctrine of deterrence'.

UNI

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