Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Former Interior Minister and Chairman Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR) Senator A Rehman Malik has urged the International Atomic Energy Agency  (IAEA) to take serious notice of continuous nuclear proliferation by India and probe into the incidents on urgent basis.

He suggested the IAEA chief to call an emergency meeting inviting western countries cautioning about this new trend by India to bring uranium as one of the business commodities, being traded openly by private dealers.

In a letter to IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi on Monday,  he said, “I would like to draw your kind attention to the combined seizure of 7.1 kg of highly enriched uranium from two citizens of India namely Jigar Jayesh Pandya and Abu Tahir Afzal Husain Choudhary, a scrap dealer, on  May 6, 2021 in Mumbai”. He wrote that it was not the first time that such a highly radioactive substance has been seized by police in recent years but in 2016; Indian police seized almost 9 kg (19.8 lbs) of depleted uranium in the Thane area of Maharashtra.  He says, it is, thus, evident that India has been found involved in illicit nuclear proliferation activities and uranium theft, as there is a history of unauthorised possession of radioactive material in India.

Making the letter public at a press conference, Rehman Malik said the present incident and many other incidents which have not yet been reported must be an eye-opener for the IAEA, as it has further endangered nuclear security especially when it is in the hands of an irresponsible extremist government in India. He stressed that timely warning and necessary legal action will enable to stop the Indian nuclear products from landing in the hands of terrorists. He urged that world must stop this new wave and mode of terrorism of these dirty bombs which will be too dangerous for the world and will frustrate all modern measures against terrorism.

He wrote that the theft of uranium and its subsequent sale to unauthorised customers is not only dangerous for India, its neighbors but also to the whole world.  He added that seizure of enriched uranium from unauthorised persons in India has raised eyebrows in the world vis-à-vis the safety measures in place in India.  “Although India is not a signatory to Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), yet it was able to secure a waiver from IAEA owing to its supposedly falsely reported ‘excellent record in nuclear security,” he added.

For the proposed probe into sale of uranium in India, Rehman Malik in his letter has proposed some important points to save the world from the dirty bomb in the hands of terrorists. Those points include:

1. A detailed investigation by IAEA because the present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is controlled by extremists and cannot be trusted.

2. All previous incidents of nuclear proliferation inside India need to be made public as India always muted such incidents.
3. The IAEA may call an emergency meeting inviting western countries cautioning about this new trend by India to bring uranium as one of the business commodities, being traded openly by private dealers. As a politician, I am sorry to note the double standards of the world community when it comes to Pakistan.  There has not been any reaction yet either from the UN, IAEA, or the international community including the US over the incidents of seizure of uranium from private citizens of India.
4. I request to refer the case of nuclear proliferation to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) under your signature as it is too serious to be ignored and allowed to endanger the world as it is too serious issue and a bigger dirty bomb is bigger threat than actual terrorism and money laundering.
5. It is high time that the safety measures adopted by India to safeguard the nuclear material against proliferation are reviewed by IAEA and the waiver granted to it is withdrawn forthwith, and in the meantime, a total freeze on the operation of these nuclear plants may be imposed.

IRR Chairman Rehman Malik explained that the seizure of such a quantity of nuclear material from unauthorised persons speaks itself about the so-called claims of fool-proof safety of the Indian nuclear programme. “I am a close observer and familiar with nuclear-associated issues as I have remained a member of the National Control and command Authority of Pakistan being Interior Minister of Pakistan for five years,” his letter further reads.

He mentioned that in one of the international programmes of IAEA on nuclear proliferation in 2011 in Islamabad, wherein he was chief guest, he had warned the world about the Indian nuclear faulty security system having inadequate safety and security which is a matter of record. He stressed that the nuclear programme in India is in the hands of irresponsible and inexperienced civilians and the extremist government which is being governed by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) who have their unethical motives in contrast to Pakistan’s outstanding nuclear safety and security record duly verified by the international monitoring watchdog.

Rehman Malik maintained that India has been a customer of the nuclear black market and it has become now business which means the supply of death by providing nuclear material for dirty bombs. He emphasized that unless India strictly regulates nuclear material, it would be considered complicit in the proliferation of nuclear material. He explains that under Article 39 of the UN Charter, it constitutes a direct threat to international peace and security, if a country is found to be noncompliant with its safeguards. Such loose state control shows that the India has to go a long way to become a responsible nuclear power and made member of NSG, he added.

In his letter to IAEA chief, Rehman Malik penned that track record of India shows that it has been a customer in the nuclear black market and proliferation of nuclear material cannot happen without the active connivance of State operators hence India has proved itself as an irresponsible state. He added that India has to prove its credibility by enhancing the internal administration and security of its nuclear plants and also needs to bring stringent legislation by enhancing punishment on nuclear proliferation. The private dealing with uranium has to be prohibited otherwise every dirty bomb in the hands of terrorists and every non-state actor will be worse than Osama Bin Laden and Daesh, he concluded.