Buoyed By Agni-III Success, DRDO Seeks To Complete N-Triad By '11 By 2010-2011, India hopes to gatecrash into a very exclusive club of countries, which have both ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) and SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles) as well as BMD (ballistic missile defence) capabilities. Only the US and Russia strictly qualify for this club as of now, if all the three capabilities
Former president A P J Abdul Kalam was on Sunday all praise for the "courage' shown by then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in deciding to go for Pokhran tests within weeks of assuming office in March 1998. "Vajpayee gave us the permission within a week of assuming the political office, to establish India's expertise,' Kalam said at a function at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the
Activists of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) on Saturday demanded that India and Pakistan roll back their nuclear weapons programme and divert the "colossal funds' wasted on the arms race to development, education and people's welfare.
by K. Subrahmanyam I was a Consulting Editor of The Times of India on the day when the "Shakti' tests were conducted. A long-time friend of mine, who had been associated with me in campaigning for India exercising its nuclear option for over three decades, holding a high-level position, rang me up and informed me about the tests at 4.30 p.m. Straightaway I went back to the office as the official announcement was to be made by the Prime Minister at 5.30 p.m. I contacted my editorial colleagues and offered to write the editorial.
A traumatic scene opens up. From a silent abettor of Pakistan's nuclear strivings in the eighties and early nineties, American policy-making has made a sharp u-turn. It has become jittery over the fate of the Pakistani nuclear stockpile and wants to position itself in the role of a policeman watching over Pakistan's nuclear weapon facility. Why has this happened - what has brought about this sharp juxtaposition? Most important of all is the question: can the US force itself on Pakistan in this role of a nuclear policeman? We have here the proverbial riddle wrapped in an enigma.
A UN Security Council resolution prohibits the export of nucleargrade graphite, a key material needed for the manufacture of a nuclear bomb, to Iran. A Mumbai-based export firm was allegedly caught doing precisely that by an alert customs officer in October 2007. It was issued a showcause notice by the customs department last week for alleged violation of the Customs Act and the foreign trade policy.
Pakistan on Monday testfired the Shaheen-II long-range ballistic missile for the second time in three days. The missile can carry nuclear and conventional warheads and hit targets deep inside India. The Shaheen-II or Hatf-VI surface-tosurface nuclear capable missile, which has a range of 2,000 km, was launched for the first time by the army's Strategic Forces Command to mark the culmination of a field training exercise.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday test-fired a long-range ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads and hitting targets within India. The test-firing of the Shaheen-II or Hatf-VI surface-to-surface ballistic missile the first missile test since Pakistan's new government assumed office last month was witnessed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Gen Tariq Majid, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
Is India a sleeping giant, a rising power, or a great global power? How does it compare or compete with China? Are Pakistan and Afghanistan flashpoints in Asia? Is there any solution to the China-Tibet stand-off? Does international business now decide diplomacy? Is nuclear non-proliferation still relevant?
