Revise 'no first use' nuke policy: Jaswant

NEW DELHI: BJP leader and former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh has said India must revise its 'no-first-use' nuclear policy. Initiating a debate in the Lok Sabha on the demand for grants for the Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday, Singh said the Government should look at a revision of the nuclear policy with a sense of urgency. The nuclear policy of NDA is greatly in need of revision... Please hold broader consultations," he said adding that "time will not wait for us."

General Deepak Kapoor had sometime ago spurred a debate in the strategic community on the issue when he said that if reports of Pakistan's expanded arsenal was correct, New Delhi needed to reconsider its strategic stance. This remark was in response to a report by the Federation of American Scientists which said the Pakistani arsenal could be as large as 70-90 warheads.

Jaswant Singh claimed in the Lok Sabha that while India had only 50-60 warheads, Pakistan had 100-110 warheads. He said the 'changed context' will have to be addressed and New Delhi could no longer be unmindful of Pakistan aggressive nuclearisation. Singh highlighted the recent global events like increased assistance extended by China to Pakistan in the nuclear field.

The BJP leader said that the UPA Government should not 'outsource' its foreign policy to the US. Referring to the latest tranche of leaked US embassy cables, he said he regretted that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the then National Security Advisor MK Narayanan had different views on dealing with Pakistan.

Jaswant Singh alleged India's foreign policy suffered from the collective mistakes of Congress. "It was a mistake on part of Congress to agree to Partition of the country and leave the issue of Jammu and Kashmir unresolved."