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India will retaliate with nuclear weapons if Pakistan uses its atomic arsenal, and both countries must be prepared for "mutual destruction," the country's seniormost defence ministry bureaucrat was quoted as saying in a magazine interview on Sunday.

Defence Secretary Yogendra Narain in an interview with the Outlook news weekly also hinted that India's nuclear weapons were in place for use without delay.

Narain's warning came a day after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf dismissed as "absolutely baseless" charges that Pakistan had moved nuclear missiles to the border.

"Pakistan is not a democratic country and we do not know their nuclear threshold. We will retaliate and must be prepared for mutual destruction on both sides," Narain said.

The defence secretary said India had "factored" in the possibility of a war with its neighbour turning nuclear.

He argued that it was difficult to fathom the assurances of General Musharraf, who siezed power in a military coup in October 1999.

After testing five nuclear devices in May 1998, India put a moratorium on further tests and said its stockpile was built on the policy of minimum credible deterrence and that it would follow a no-first-use rule.

Pakistan conducted rival tests the same month.

Narain said India's command-and-control system, the nuclear button, was in place.

"Everything is finalised. It is in the hands of the civilian government and we don't expect any delay in issuing orders."

India's missile capabilities match Pakistan's but New Delhi has numerical superiority over its South Asian rival in terms of ballistic missiles and stockpiled nuclear warheads, according to experts.

Lieutinent General D.B. Shekatkar, who retired in March as India's deputy director-general of military, was quoted on Sunday by Outlook as saying Pakistan possessed tactical nuclear weapons for battlefield applications.

"Yes it does and we should be ready to counter it. In the army, when we deal with the nuclear aspect and future planning, we have always taken the tactical nuclear weapon factor into account when dealing with Pakistan," Shekatkar told Outlook.

India claims to possess tactical nuclear weapons with a destructive force equivalent to less than 1,000 tonnes of TNT explosives.

Narain has been on a whirlwind trip of nations perceived as friendly to India amid speculation he was shopping for the latest hardware in the international military bazaar.

India has also speeded up negotiations with Israel for a Russian Ilyushin-76 plane equipped with its own Phalcon hi-tech radar and according to sources has opened talks with the United States for a missile defence shield.

Russia, India's main military supplier, too is offering its SU-300 air defence system and has sent a first batch of some 300 T-90 battle tanks to India.

Besides the promised supply of weapons-locating-radar, the United States is also likely to give the green light sometime this year to General Electrics to sell engines for India's Light Combat Aircraft, according to reports.

India is also in the final stages of negotiations with Russia to buy the "Admiral Groshkov" aircraft carrier, and is seeking to pick up more French Mirage-2000 multi-role planes which can deliver nuclear weapons hundreds of kilometres (miles) away. 

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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