Nuclear Security Summit

Shivi Tyagi

MBA-II Sem ,IIIT, Allahabad

Nuclear Security summit, 12-13 April,2010 a big deal that brought 47 country officials  to step forward  in view of growing concerns about production of nuclear weapons around the globe , but more importantly about the critical task of securing sensitive nuclear materials so that we may not end up, surrendering them into wrong hands. The agenda seems most defined and aligned with world peace, but the it isn$rsquo;t hard to see that America seems to be looking for more out of it as exactly how large is what President Barack Obama calls "single biggest threat to U.S. security"?

To find out the inner framework that Barak Obama seems to be building it is essential to once think, how this world looks like in the nuclear game. The“Haves” and the “Have nots”, the former ones have to talk about Arms control , Disarmament and the latter ones must not have these nuclear agendas i.e. non-proliferation. A year ago at Prague,  Obama had  propagated “Nuclear weapon free world” is what America dreams for, but to what an extent this dream can relate to the reality is what needs to be seen when just two countries, America and Russia alone have 20,000 nuclear weapons. To add more to this is another major fact, that according to the latest figures by International Panel on Fissile Materials the world has accumulated around 1670 tones of HEU()  of which 95% is by Russia and America alone.

In middle of the critical propaganda one major highlight of the security summit has been the triangular commitments .i.e. India and Pakistan with America. Indian officials felt relief, satisfaction and palpable confidence on the assurance of America that "India$rsquo;s interests are constantly on the US mind". Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also put forward India$rsquo;s key concerns, like Pakistan$rsquo;s relentless pursuit of terrorism as a policy option, legal access to LeT terrorist David Headley (a sore point with New Delhi) and also support of development process in Afghanistan. Obama reassured Singh that he recognizes India$rsquo;s security concerns arising from the AfPak region and wouldn't do anything inimical to it since it valued the prospect of a strong strategic partnership with New Delhi, but Singh had a litany of complaints and grievances that over-ran Obama’s suggestion to reduce tensions through dialogue with Pakistan. Singh cleared that he saw no will on part of Pakistan to punish the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai massacre and even now  terrorists such as Hafeez Mohammed Saeed and Ilyas Kashmir continued to operate with impunity. In addition to this he was of the view that the future of South Asia will be determined by the way the menace of terrorism is tackled, where the partnership between India and the US would definitely help resort peace. Implicitly he presented a call for greater pressure from Washington on Pakistan to crack down on its home-grown and fostered jihadi groups such as LeT. Now moving to the second cord of relationship, where Barak Obama met Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani pledging a long term frontline commitment. America voiced appreciation for Pakistan$rsquo;s response to an attack last week on the US consulate in Peshawar, offering condolences over the assault and a separate bombing against a rally that together left 46 people dead. Both countries conferred upon the importance of their relationship because of the shared values and the fight that is both engaged in against extremists operating in South Asia.

The communique of the nuclear summit recognizes that nuclear terrorism is a serious threat and wants countries to endorse a pledge to take steps both at national and international level to strengthen nuclear security and prevent terrorists and criminal groups from gaining access to atomic weapons. Thus look forward for a safe world for mankind.




 

Links

http://news.discovery.com/human/nuclear-summit-2010-its-kind-of-a-big-deal.html

http://www.newsahead.com/preview/2010/04/12/washington-dc-12-13-apr-2010-president-barak-obama-hosts-nuclear-security-summit/index.php

www.fissilematerials.org

The Hindu-12/4/10