India hints at changing 'no first use' nuclear policy
Indian Defense Minister's statement proved that the Modi govt has reached the peak of insanity.
NEW DELHI (AFP/Dunya News) - India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hinted on Friday that New Delhi might change its "no first use" policy on nuclear weapons, amid heightened tensions with fellow atomic power Pakistan.
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made the comment on Twitter after visiting Pokhran, the site of India’s nuclear tests in 1998 under then Indian Prime Minister Atal Vajpayee.
"Pokhran is the area which witnessed (Vajpayee’s) firm resolve to make India a nuclear power and yet remain firmly committed to the doctrine of ‘No First Use’," Singh wrote.
"India has strictly adhered to this doctrine. What happens in future depends on the circumstances," Singh tweeted. India committed in 1999 to not being the first to use nuclear weapons in any conflict.
The statement comes as tensions rise with between both countries after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped occupied Kashmir of its autonomy, a move sharply condemned by the whole world.
The questions have arisen if India has threatened the UN before the Security Council meeting. Rajnath’s statement hinted to a dangerous extremist thinking of India.
In 1974, India blasted a nuclear bomb, displacing all international laws. The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was made in 1974 to prevent India from doing so again.
Indian Defense Minister’s statement proved that the Modi government has reached the peak of insanity.
Stop lying
Singh’s comments prompted considerable noise in both India and Pakistan, with Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari tweeting that India "need to stop lying".
Observers said Singh’s statement is the clearest so far with regards to a change in India’s nuclear doctrine.
Vipin Narang, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, tweeted it was the "highest level declaration that India may not feel indefinitely or absolutely bound to No First Use."
Singh received support from Subramanian Swamy, a hardliner parliamentarian from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
This is not the first time that the Modi government has made a statement regarding its nuclear policy.
In 2016, then defence minister Manohar Parrikar had expressed his reservations over the "no first use" nuclear policy.
A revision to the policy was part of the BJP’s election manifesto in 2014. Then front runner Modi, however, stated that if voted to power, he had no intention of changing the stance.
