97. Letter From Indian Prime Minister Desai to President Carter1
I have already written to you last month dealing with various international questions of importance to our countries.2 A report has come to me suggesting that both Israel and South Africa were secretly building up nuclear weapon technology and obtaining fissionable material. I could not include this aspect of the matter in my letter to you because I was trying to get the reports verified. From the subsequent reports I feel that there is some reasonable ground for suspicion that both these countries have acquired part of their nuclear technology and fissionable material clandestinely from USA, UK and probably France. On the one side we are being asked to accept safeguards against proliferation even in the pursuit of our peaceful objectives while on the other hand countries which are determined to go ahead on objectionable lines for political considerations are able to obtain dangerous materials clandestinely or through connivance. I would therefore suggest that this matter might be closely examined in depth and adequate precautions taken to ensure that such clandestine exports do not take place to the prejudice of the nuclear policy of confining its use for peaceful purposes.
I realise how keen you are to ensure fool-proof arrangements against risks of proliferation but if clandestinely or through connivance exports of such material can take place, it would mean a serious setback to that policy. That is why I thought it best to write to you.
As my programme at present stands, I propose to leave for London on the 5th June and after a short stay come to New York on the 8th afternoon in time to address the Disarmament Conference on the 9th. [Page 258] I shall be in Washington on the 12th afternoon or evening and leave for New York on way to London and India on the 14th night or 15th morning.
With warm regards,
Yours sincerely,
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P780087–2173. Secret.↩
- Desai’s March 27 letter to Carter dealt mostly with U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms issues, the Horn of Africa, and the Middle East. Desai also addressed Indo-U.S. nuclear relations noting that while in favor of continuing negotiations on nuclear fuel shipments, he was “distressed that the pending shipments of enriched uranium for Tarapur are being delayed, even after your announcement made in the central Hall of Parliament on 2nd January 1978. I wonder if it is realized that power being such an important aid to production, the well-being of thousands of persons is involved.” (Telegram 86185 to New Delhi, April 4; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780145–0898)↩