rediff.com: Peace lies in strength, says Vajpayee: PTI

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said India's experience has taught it that peace lies in strength, without a non-discriminatory world order.

"The security of one billion Indians is central to Asia's security and stability," he said in an article in International Herald Tribune.

Vajpayee, who returned on Tuesday from 13-day visit to the United States, said, "Yet peace and strength are not incompatible. As a nuclear weapons state, our approach is guided by a sense of responsibility and transparency that we urge others to adopt."

Outlining the principles of New Delhi's nuclear policy, he said India has declared a unilateral moratorium on explosive tests, a policy of "no first use", a tight export control regime and a willingness to engage with other countries on all aspects of international security.

Maintaining that no armies from India have stepped out to conquer and dominate others, the prime minister said, "We want a world free of weapons of mass destruction. But security in the real world must be based on principle of equal security for all".

Stating that India and the US were motivated by shared values that give freedom, dignity, democracy and tolerance the highest priority, he wrote, "Open societies oppose international terrorism, which in the cloak of religious extremism, is eating away at the foundation of democratic nations".

Observing that his visit to the US has consolidated relations between the world's two largest democracies, Vajpayee said the joint initiatives and understandings that the two sides reached represented a major step forward.

"India and the US can be natural allies in the 21st century. Events and circumstances over the last two years have confirmed this," he said, adding that as natural alies, it was important that New Delhi and Washington remained engaged.

The prime minister said, "Contacts should be so frequent that they become routime. President Bill Clinton's visit to India in March took place after a gap of 22 years. In a fast-changing world in which we live in, even 22 months is an unacceptable interruption".

Vajpayee said the integrity of nation-states as building blocks of a stable international order was threatened by newly promoted concepts of interventionism that added to insecurity and social chaos.

"The principle of social equity that must underline economic prosperity and globalisation is often ignored. Barriers to mutually enriching science and technology must be removed to promote creativity and knowledge to the full," he said.

The prime minister said as the two biggest open societies, India and the US must address these pressing concerns.


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