India to have a credible N-deterrent

India to have a credible N-deterrent
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 21: India today said that it will have a credible minimum nuclear deterrent and its discussions with the United States and other key interlocutors on nuclear issues are based on this fact.

An external affairs ministry spokesman said this while replying to questions on remarks by a State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, in Washington that New Delhi could have a minimum nuclear deterrent ``at the level if chooses'' even if it signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Terming the remarks as "self-evident truths", he said that it has always been clear that India would determine and define its security requirements and nuclear deterrent. "Our discussions with our interlocutors in the US and other countries have been predicated on the fact that India will have a credible minimum nuclear deterrent," the spokesman said.

Two joint secretaries from the external affairs ministry Alok Prasad and Rakesh Sood are currently in Washington to hold parleys withtheir counterparts on nuclear non-proliferation issues flowing out of the previous nine rounds of parleys between External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. The spokesman said the Indian officials would have functional official level contacts" in Washington on certain "nitty gritties" of the issues and report back to the Minister. The tenth round of Singh-Talbott talks are expected to be held in the second half of January in London.