INDIA said in the late 1970s it would “smash” any attempt by Pakistan to develop atomic weapons amid a failed US bid to broker a nuclear-free South Asia, declassified documents said.
Previously secret US files shed light on initiatives by President Jimmy Carter’s 1977-1981 administration to persuade Pakistan not to pursue nuclear weapons – which, three decades later, are a major concern for many US experts.
The Carter team eventually came to doubt it could do much to dissuade Pakistan, which was determined to counter historic rival India. Pakistan eventually tested an atom bomb in 1998, days after India.
The declassified documents, obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, said the Carter administration sounded out India on declaring South Asia to be a zone without nuclear weapons.
India’s prime minister at the time, Morarji Desai, rejected the idea in a meeting with the US ambassador, saying it made no sense so long as major powers – a likely reference to neighbouring China – had nuclear weapons, a memo said.
Desai, who was working to mend relations with Pakistan, made clear that he did not want public confrontation but said he doubted Islamabad`s sincerity in backing a nuclear-free zone.
He also told a Pakistani envoy “that India had only good intentions toward Pakistan and wished to do nothing to cause it difficulties, but also that, ‘If Pakistan tries any tricks, we will smash you,’” according to the 1979 memo by the US ambassador, Robert Goheen.
The Indians were not alone in their suspicions. The same year, the US ambassador in Islamabad, Arthur Hummel, confronted dictator Zia ul Haq with satellite images showing activity at the Kahuta nuclear laboratory.
Zia called the allegations “absolutely ridiculous” and proposed to let in US inspectors, but lower-ranking Pakistani officials reneged on his offer, Hummel wrote.
