India has sovereign right to conduct N-test: Pranab

CALLING for a united fight against terrorism in the light of Saturday’s bomb blasts in Delhi, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said it is ‘not the time to pass the buck to each other’ but a time for all to join the fight against terror, reports Doordarshan.

The senior AICC leader was reacting to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that he had alerted the Centre to the bomb attacks on Delhi at the inauguration of a passport office in Coimbatore on Sunday.

“We have laws like TADA. We had POTA and have preventive detention,” he said on the BJP’s demand for enactment of a stringent law against terror.

There is no dearth of laws to tackle terrorism in India but the problem lies in their proper implementation and utilisation of the enforcement and intelligence agencies, Pranab said.

Terming the Delhi blasts as ‘unfortunate,’ he said, “They have proved that India alone is the worst victim of terrorism. There should be zero tolerance to terrorism.”

He said India can conduct nuclear tests in the future, if necessary, but it has to be ready to face consequences.

“If the country considers it is necessary to conduct nuclear tests, it can do so. Nothing stops us in this (123) agreement. Therefore, we are entitled to conduct nuclear tests if it is found necessary,” he told the news channel.

Pranab said, “Every country has its own rules for nuclear tests and therefore we (India) also have sovereign right to go for the nuclear tests, if required.”

However, he added that if the country conducts a test, it has to face consequences as witnessed in 1974 and 1998, hinting at possibility of sanctions as were imposed after the Pokhran I and II atomic tests.

Asked whether the Indo-US nuclear deal will be signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US later this month, Pranab said, “Let’s wait and see, the process has already started.”