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Chandrika says nuclear concerns can't be ignored; Vajpayee underlines disarmament

Saisuresh Sivaswamy in Colombo

Even while admitting that the ambience of confidence embracing all seven SAARC members could be affected by "the recent developments in South Asia", Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunge today said it was a measure of the association's maturity that its member-states have, in their individual national contexts, "striven to assuage the situation".

In her address at the inaugural session of the 10th SAARC summit here, Kumaratunga said, "None of us in SAARC has rushed to judgement. The circumstances that have led to the steps taken by India and Pakistan have been bilaterally explained to each of us in SAARC. Each state in South Asia has taken its own measure of the nuclear tests.... Although these concerns are not on the agenda of the summit, they cannot be ignored."

The Lankan president said such concerns cannot be divorced, or considered in isolation, from the global security environment, in particular the nuclear environment, and the tardy progress in nuclear disarmament on a global scale.

Recalling her own nation's experience, she said Sri Lanka became a signatory to the nuclear non proliferation treaty and the comprehensive test ban treaty, despite shortcomings, in the belief that these two treaties would lead to total nuclear disarmament. "It is a matter for regret that the declared nuclear powers have so far failed to move significantly towards total nuclear disarmament," she said, and added that these were global issues that cannot but affect the South Asian situation deeply.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in his opening address at the SAARC summit, remarked that apprehensions have been expressed in some quarters that recent developments in South Asia could cause a setback to the SAARC process. "Let me say that these apprehensions are misplaced."

SAARC cooperation is driven by the imperative need for all South Asian countries to accelerate socio-economic development, reduce and eradicate poverty and enhance the quality of life of their peoples, he said. "It is in recognition of this that the founding fathers of SAARC took a conscious decision not to burden it with bilateral concerns, and to keep contentious issues out. India has scrupulously respected this provision."

Reiterating India's strong commitment to global nuclear disarmament and its conviction that its security as well as that of the rest of the world could be best ensured in a nuclear-weapons free world, Vajpayee said India will continue working on effective programmes and initiatives to realise that objective.

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