Commodore Bhaskar (retd) was speaking on ``Post Pokhran Indian security'' organised by Sakal Papers Ltd at Bal Gandharva Rang Mandit to observe the 101st birth anniversary of the founder editor of Sakal, Dr Nanasaheb Parulekar.

Bhaskar staunchly said that he did not agree with a section of thought that India had committed a moral crime or had done something unpardonable and un-Gandhian by conducting the tests. In fact, he stressed that having a bomb to redress oppression was not un-Gandhian. Being the first one to use it would definitely be against Gandhian principles, he noted.

Till recently our macro security was dependent on Chinese intentions, he said adding that 1995 when the country was pressurised to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) marked the heightening of the insecurity index of the state. India's insecurity was being aggravated at both global and regional levels. However India would bound in its own strategic culture of diffidence and its deep commitment to passivism made her reluctant to take the `dishonourable path'.

Bhaskar gave a period-wise demarcation of events and the change in Indian thinking, from 1962, the turning point in understanding the nuclear issue to 1998, and the Pokhran declaration. Earlier Bhaskar outlined and compared the security concept during the cold war and post-cold war periods.