Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday rejected claims that India's 1998 nuclear tests were not successful, a news report said. "A wrong impression has been given by some scientists which is needless. Former president APJ Abdul Kalam has clarified that the tests were successful," Singh said in the north-western state of Rajasthan, the PTI news agency reported.
Singh's comments came after Indian atomic scientist K Santhanam, who was associated with the 1998 nuclear tests in Rajasthan, said the tests were not as successful as officially claimed. Santhanam said the thermonuclear device was of low yield, which he called a "fizzle" that would not meet the country's strategic objectives.
He said India needed to conduct more atomic tests for a credible nuclear deterrent and should not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Santhanam's remarks sparked a controversy with fellow scientists and the government rejecting his claim, saying it had no scientific evidence.
Former president Kalam, who was the chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation overseeing the tests, maintained that data obtained by seismic and radioactive measurements established that the "design yield of the thermonuclear test had been obtained." Regarding India's ties with Pakistan, Singh suggested that relations were currently not conducive for the neighbours to hold bilateral level talks.
Singh said he wanted the relations to improve but some "elements" in Pakistan were resisting. "Until relations between India and Pakistan don't improve and brotherhood does not increase, the atmosphere is not right for moving ahead," he said. India froze its five-year dialogue with Islamabad after the Mumbai terrorist attack in November, and said it would not be resume until Pakistan took action against terrorists and planners based on its soil whom New Delhi accuses of being responsible for the attack.
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