by Malvika Bose

Created on: February 19, 2008   Last Updated: June 22, 2009

One should not make the mistake of clubbing Pakistan and India together on this issue. They are not the same. It's been 60 years since India's partition and Pakistan's birth. They have different ideologies. One is a secular democracy, which is making progress in leaps and bounds; other is an Islamic state (mostly ruled by dictators) trying to find its way out of the mess it has itself created. One, is producing highly skilled professionals, who are in demand all over the world, the other is producing Terrorists who demands worlds attention by their nefarious activities.

Although both countries need nuclear power to meet their growing energy demands the question is who can be trusted to handle their nuclear power more responsibly. Al Qaeda has already thretened that it wants to get hold of Pakistans nuclear weapons and use them against USA. Al Qaeda and Taliban are creating havoc in Pakistan and Afghanistan making this reagion the most volatile place on Earth. India does not flaunt its nuclear weapons and neither does it call itself a nuclear power.So far its nuclear weapons are a closlely guarded secret Same cannot be said of Pakistan.

India's chief concern is with China. India began its nuclear program in early sixties after China attacked it and captured huge territory. India has never trusted China fully since then. Although these two giant neighbors are forging closer ties, the whole Indo-China border is still disputed. India is home to Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who escaped to India in 1958 at the age of 14. China objects strongly to Dalai Lama's presence in India and sees this an effort to undermine its claim on Tibet by India. China refuses to consider Arunachal Pradesh, India' s northeast state as Indian Territory and says it belongs to China. India needs a strong nuclear deterrent to stop any kind of future adventurism from China. Apart from China, India is surrounded by neighbor's including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Srilanka, which are all volatile. Continuous internal strive in these countries keeps India on its toes. India too has its fair share of internal problems. It comes only second to Iraq in having most deaths due to acts of terrorism. Terrorists infiltrate trough Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal borders. India under the circumstances cannot disarm itself.

India must have more nuclear energy so it can solve its chronic failure to supply the electricity needed for an economy growing at close to 9%every year. Today it produces

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