India-Pakistan:  Kalam Reaffirms No-First-Use

India’s nuclear arsenal is secure and the country plans to continue its no-first-use policy on nuclear weapons, President-elect Abdul Kalam said recently (see GSN, July 18).

“Nuclear command and control is mostly for deployment,” Kalam wrote in response to questions from the Wall Street Journal.  “Regarding the accidents, necessary safety procedures and protocols are in place.  With [India’s] nuclear weapons policy of ‘no-first-use,’ India is strong in both,” Kalam wrote.

Kalam, who is considered the father of the country’s missile program, is expected to be inaugurated president Thursday.  The position of Indian president is mostly ceremonial, but Kalam’s responsibilities technically are to include acting as commander-in-chief of the armed forces (Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, July 22).

U.S. Employees Return

Meanwhile, U.S. government employees and their families have received permission to return to India after leaving the country in June, the U.S. State Department said today (see GSN, June 3).

“Although the risk of renewed, increased tensions between India and Pakistan cannot be ruled out, tensions have subsided,” the department statement said, adding that U.S. citizens should not travel to the Indian-Pakistani border or the disputed Kashmir region.

Officials had previously issued a warning advising Americans to leave India because there was a “small chance” of nuclear war between the two rivals, U.S. Ambassador Robert Blackwill said (Associated Press/New York Times, July 22).

Straw Fails to Win Promises

In Pakistan Saturday, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that India and Pakistan have made progress since tensions were particularly high in May, but “more needs to be done” (Ian Fisher, New York Times, July 21).

Pakistan told Straw, however, that it is unwilling to make new promises to try to achieve peace with India, according to the Times of India.

“Islamabad has already taken measures that it could take to ease tensions, and it is not prepared to do more,” Pakistani official Inamul Haq said (Press Trust of India/Times of India, July 22).

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to arrive in Pakistan July 28 after visiting India (Fisher, New York Times, July 21).

For further information, see:

Stimson Center Background on Kashmir

Pakistani Embassy to the United States

Indian Embassy to the United States

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