NEW DELHI, Sept 5: Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright on Tuesday slammed India’s nuclear weapons programme, giving a glimpse to New Delhi of how a Democrat-led Senate vote might go on the US-India nuclear cooperation deal.
Ms Albright supported New Delhi’s track record as a non-proliferator and also appeared to express support to the civil nuclear deal. But she clearly indicated her disapproval to India’s possessing nuclear weapon capability.
She said she continued to be concerned about the non-proliferation regime (NPT), which had ‘broken’ and said it can be fixed ‘if India can be a part of the solution rather than being outside’.
While noting that India has not been a proliferator, Ms Albright said: “I am in favour of the civil nuclear deal. I think it is a very important sign of the new US-India relationship.”
“India has acted as a responsible nuclear state and I hope it would continue to do so,” she told NDTV.
“(But) what I am troubled by, it doesn’t matter what country it is, is that having a nuclear weapons capability is now seen as a sign of having arrived. And I don’t think that should be the sign of arrival,” Ms Albright said.
