In a hard-hitting address to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday, Chidambaram said that the countries which have ``vehemently'' criticised the Indian tests belonged to two categories.

One, established nuclear weapon states who wanted to preserve their exclusive position. The second, are those who have already addressed their nuclear-related national security concerns, since they are either not placed in a hostile neighbourhood or they enjoy the security of a nuclear umbrella of a nuclear weapon state.

``The political or geographical proximity of some of the latter to a friendly supportive nuclear weapon state is so easily recognisable that they can perhaps be looked upon as surrogate nuclear weapons states,'' he said.

``Interestingly, none of them is a developing country and worryingly, the attitude of many of them smacks of a new kind of colonialism through technology control,'' he observed.

He also described as ``strange and contradictory'' that India, which has never violated any treaty obligation is being accused by some countries of violating the norms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a treaty which is yet to enter into force, and to which India is not a party.

Chidambaram's sharply-worded speech reflects the growing public sentiment in India about the hypocritical reaction of the nuclear weapon states, which after ignoring India's decades-long campaign for a phased elimination of nuclear weapons were censuring India for its nuclear tests.

In a veiled attack on the gendarme-like role that the IAEA has adopted in recent times, Chidambaram said the agency should focus on statutory technical issues like nuclear power and ``not on extraneous political issues related to nuclear weapons''. This was a subject better dealt with by the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, he observed.

Chidambaram also read out a special message from Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in which he reiterated India's willingness to legally commit itself to bilateral or multilateral no-first-use negotiations to assure the world community that its nuclear tests were purely for self-defence.

``We have stated that we will not be the first to use nuclear weapons. We are willing to strengthen this unilateral commitment by entering into bilateral agreements on no-first use or multilateral negotiations on global no-first use,'' Vajpayee said.

Emphasising that India is a responsible nuclear weapon state, Vajpayee said India would continue to work towards the elimination of all nuclear weapons within a time-bound framework, so that a nuclear weapon-free and peaceful world would one day be a reality.

In his address, Chidambaram also urged the IAEA to promote scientific cooperation in the field of civilian nuclear power, saying the agency had to be a prime mover in ensuring that safety-related equipment and information are easily disseminated without being hindered by arbitrary and politically motivated export control regimes.

While ensuring safety of nuclear power and implementing effectively its safeguards responsibilities, he cautioned that a situation must not be created where developing countries planning to introduce nuclear power for the first time ``feel frightened by safety and feel threatened by safeguards''.

Underscoring India's willingness to share its expertise in the field of nuclear science and engineering, Chidambaram said the Indian Department of Atomic Energy would be happy to accept scientists and engineers from developing countries for its one-year course, either through a bilateral agreement of through the IAEA.